Healing
by hedonist11
Summary: GKM prompt. Santana's never been a fan of Britt's motorcross, but she's never missed a meet or practice... until the break up. Britt's loss of focus causes her to crash and get hurt. Santana hates herself for not being there and does everything in her power to make up for it, including taking care of Brittany. Lots of healing going on, physical and emotional.
1. Chapter 1

This is a GKM response to a prompt made by an anonymous user. LingeringLilies thought it would be a good idea for everyone to fill these, since the fandom has been slacking off lately. I took an easy one that wasn't so much kink. Although there will be sex, hence the M rating.

I don't know how long this story will be, maybe a few chapters, maybe more.

Enjoy!

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She was sitting in class trying not to doze off listening to Professor Langham talk about his theories on existentialism when her cell phone buzzed. She reached down and rifled through her purse until she found her phone tucked away in the side pocket.

A text from Sam.

_Brittany recked her bike at her mortar cross practiss. _

Santana had to reread the text a couple times to make sure Sam was telling her what she thought he is telling her. Motherfucker didn't have the decency to call, the least he could do was use the spell check on his phone.

That's when she realized her face was reddening and her ears were burning. She was furious. Not at Sam and his idiocy though, but at the fact that Brittany got hurt and she wasn't there. She's always been there. Ever since Brittany took up this ridiculous sport in the 7th grade.

It took Santana a moment for everything to register before she was simultaneously closing up her book and dialing Sam's number. She walked out class with out so much as a peek over her shoulder to see if anyone, namely the professor, noticed.

It only took two rings before Sam picked up, his voice hushed.

"Santana. I wasn't sure if you'd be in class this late or not and didn't know if I could call."

"Whatever Trouty. Is Brittany alright?"

"Yeah I think so. She was kind of out of it when we took her to the hospital but the doctor said he thinks it's just a broken leg. He won't let me in to see her though, because I'm not related to her, even though I tried to tell him I was her brother. They're going to keep her overnight."

Santana's mind was reeling with how much pain a broken leg can cause and images of Brittany's face scrunched up in agony and panic. It made her heart clench.

"I'll be there in a couple hours."

She was already lowering her phone to hang up as she heard Sam's protests that her parents would be there soon and that she didn't have to drive all the way up there.

Yeah right her parents will be there soon. Santana was there the first time she fell off her bike. She broke her collarbone and fractured a couple of ribs. Her parents only showed up when it was time to take her home and they didn't even bring the pillow Santana told them to bring, per the doctor's orders to make the ride more comfortable.

It wasn't even a question of Santana driving all the way to Lima General to see Britt. She didn't think twice. Her Brittany, regardless of who she was dating, was hurt and she always promised that she would be there for her. It was bad enough that she missed her practice for the first time in 5 years.

True to her word, almost exactly two hours later Santana was pulling into the hospital parking lot. She didn't even bother looking for the visitor section as she whipped into the first empty parking spot. She dodged an exiting ambulance as she ran into the hospital, her hand dialing Sam's number again.

"Santana?"

"What floor is she on? "

"The 4th floor, she just got out of surgery and no one is allowed in. You really didn't—"

She didn't need to hear the rest of what he had to say. She found the elevators with out a problem and promptly hit the button that led her to the fourth floor. When she got there Sam was waiting with a scowl on his face. He stood up when he saw her and walked over to her.

"What room is she in?" Santana asked with a sense of urgency that her balling fists and frantic eyes matched.

"406, but I just tried to get in again and they won't let anyone in unless they are family. It's no use."

Santana ignored him as she walked towards room 406. She had her hand on the door handle when a nurse placed an unwelcome hand on her wrist.

"Ma'am, Miss Pierce isn't permitted any friends right now, so I suggest you take a seat next to her boyfriend."

Santana cringed at the title. Boyfriend. She wasn't sure if she could ever get used to that.

"Is Doctor Lopez here?" Santana asked with an edge of indignation.

"Um… yes… he…" The nurse stuttered.

"Mija?" As if on cue Santana's father turned the corner, surprised to see his daughter in his hospital.

"Daddy. Brittany is in there, hurt, and this woman won't let me in."

Dr. Lopez eyed his daughter and then the nurse before stepping in and opening the door to Brittany's room. Santana walked in with out any hesitation and heard the nurse apologizing and explaining that she had no idea that Santana was his daughter. Their voices drowned out as soon as the door shut behind her and her eyes fell on the sleeping beauty in the middle of the room.

On the other side of the door Sam was watching with a hint of jealousy, but mostly he was just glad that Brittany had her best friend in there with her instead of being alone, despite their past. Deep down he knew they were never going to be really over which would explain why when Brittany was in and out of consciousness it wasn't him or her parents that she was calling for, it was Santana.

Santana froze when she saw Brittany in the hospital bed. Her eyes were closed, there was a huge gash just below one of her eyebrows that looked like it had been cleaned up. Her lips were parted and her mouth hung in a slight frown. If Santana didn't know the way Brittany's face normally looked when she slept she probably wouldn't had even noticed. Again her heart hurt for the blonde.

She slowly made her way over to the chair in the corner. She was careful not to make any noise as she pulled it closer to the bed, closer to Brittany. She sat down just as carefully and watched Brittany breath in and out for a moment before her eyes drifted over too still her body.

The blue hospital blanket covered her for the most part, all expect for a single leg that was suspended in the air, in a huge cast. One of her hands was lying on her stomach over the blanket and Santana could see a few minor scratches on her pale skin. She shifted her gaze to Brittany's face as she blindly took her hand in her own. The moment Santana's tan skin mingled with Brittany's and warmed her chilled hand, Brittany's features softened.

"I'm so sorry Britt-Britt. I should have been there. I should have been yelling from the sideline to be more careful. I should have… I should have…. I should have never left." Santana choked out, tears forming in her eyes. Her mouth quivered and she used her free hand to wipe away the tears. She was crying for so many different reasons. She wasn't sure if she was even allowed to cry. She caused this.

After a few moments of Santana whispering "I'm sorry"s and even quieter "I love you"s there was a knock on the door. Santana stiffened and straightened up before quietly telling the knocker that they could come in. Her hand never left Brittany's as she subconsciously moved her body closer to the sleeping girl. It was a protective gesture with a splash of territoriality.

Santana's father opened the door and peeked inside.

"Hey baby girl. I see she's still knocked out. She was put on a pretty hefty dose of morphine so she should be out of it for a while."

Santana nodded as fresh tears started to blossom under this new information. It was a reminder of how much pain Brittany must be in to require so much medication.

"Shh. It's okay. Brittany is going to be just fine. I read her report and it's just a fractured femur and a few cuts and bruises." Dr. Lopez reassured his daughter, noticing her turmoil. He walked over to her and began stroking her hair lovingly.

"It's all my fault. I always remind her to stay focused before each practice…" She wipes at a falling tear, trying to stay poised "…and the first time I'm not there this happens." Santana said in a half hearted laugh while she motioned to Brittany's casted leg.

She was trying to lighten the mood that felt darker than the deepest cave at the moment. Not only was the love of her life laying a hospital bed because of an injury that she wasn't there for, but she wasn't even her girlfriend anymore and she didn't know if Brittany would even want her there when she woke up. What if she blamed it all on Santana too, and then banished her from her life for not being there in the first place?

"Oh mija." The man shook his head and smiled at his daughter. "This isn't your fault. These things happen when you enter such a dangerous sport. Brittany knew that going into it, and that had nothing to do with you."

Santana wanted to believe her father, she really did, but maybe being with Brittany made her a little superstitious. Maybe Brittany did rub off on her a little, because her heart and her head were telling her that this was all her fault.

"I came in to see how you were doing and to tell you there is mighty persistent young man waiting out there to see Brittany." He turned his head to see if Sam ignored his advice and did in fact follow him to the room. He hadn't. "Should I let him in or send him home... what do you think Brittany would want?"

Santana was so close to telling her father to send Sam home until he added in that last part about what Brittany would want. Of course Brittany would want her boyfriend in the room, probably instead of Santana.

With a sad voice she began to answer her father, "You should probably let him—"

Santana's hand was being squeezed. Her eyes widened and shot down and sure enough Brittany's grip was tightening around hers. She looked up and saw dim blue eyes searching her face.

"San?"

Santana opened her mouth but instead of words, a sad squeak was her answer.

"What are you doing here?" Brittany asked in a curious voice that was still hoarse from sleep.

It took her a few seconds but Santana was finally able to clear her throat and form words. "You got hurt. I drove up."

Brittany seemed to be thinking about her answer as her eyes scanned the room. She was confused. She looked over the room realizing where she was. Then she looked from Santana to Dr. Lopez and finally to her leg… bound in a cast and hanging in the air.

"My leg is floating." She said in a pout.

"Your leg had to be suspended to make sure you didn't move in your sleep and cause further damage. We can take it down if it would make it more comfortable for you and if you make sure not to move it." Dr. Lopez put on his doctor voice as soon as Brittany spoke up about her injury.

"What's wrong with it?" Brittany asked, trying to remember what happened to her through her grogginess.

"Well you suffered from a femoral shaft fracture. The weight and speed of your motorbike when it hit you caused your thigh bone to fracture. Your surgeons went in and inserted a metal rod into your bone to repair it. We'll be keeping you for a couple of days to make sure that its the only damage that was caused. Your Xrays came back it doesn't appear as though you have any internal bleeding, so that's a plus."

Brittany was grateful for the laymen terms Santana's dad tried to put everything in, knowing Brittany wasn't the most knowledgeable person when it came to things like anatomy. She was still kind of confused though, and when Santana saw it written all over Brittany's face she leaned in closer to her and explained what happened.

"You got in an accident during practice today and your bike slammed into your leg. It messed up one of your bones and the doctors fixed it. You're going to be okay but it has to stay in a cast for a little while."

Brittany's bottom lip quivered. "Coach Sylvester is gonna be so mad at me. I'll be too heavy for the other girls and I'll have to be on the bottom of the pyramid."

"Britt, you can't cheer with a broken leg."

Brittany was already starting to cry when she thought she was going to be on the bottom of the pyramid, but now that she was told she wouldn't be able to cheer at all she was struck with an onslaught of sobs.

"What…am…I…gonnna….do-o-o?" Brittany asked, her tears never slowing down as they streamed down her rosy cheeks.

"Oh sweetie. It's okay. Shh." Santana caressed Brittany's hand as her own was being squeezed even tighter with each rack of sobs. The Latina leaned onto the hospital bed so that Britttany could bury her face into her shoulder. Santana wrapped her up into the best hug she could, given their position. "It's only for a few months, then you can go back… probably in time for Nationals."

Santana looked to her father for support but he was already looking skeptical about her last statement. He cleared his throat to try and get Brittany's attention. When Brittany finally ran out of tears enough to where she was left with just a few sniffles she looked up and into Santana's eyes. The pools of brown always had the same affect on her and she was slowly feeling herself calm down. No matter what was going on Santana's eyes always told her that she was never alone.

"Brittany I'm sorry about what happened, but I need to run through a few questions with you. Okay?"

The blonde finally eased herself out of Santana's arms and her sure gaze as she moved herself to a somewhat sitting position. She nodded for Dr. Lopez to continue when she felt situated.

"Are you feeling any discomfort?"

Brittany gave him a weak nod.

"Where at?"

"Everywhere." She hadn't realized until he asked but she ached all over. Her head was pounding, her chest hurt, her stomach hurt and not only did her leg hurt but it itched like crazy.

"On a scale from one to ten, ten being the worst amount of pain what would you say your pain is?"

Brittany looked at Santana hoping she would have the answer for her like she always did in the classes they shared. But the brunette just looked at her and raised her eye brows, asking the same question with out so many words.

"A 6 I think. Maybe a 6 and a half."

"Okay I'll have them put you on a rotation to get a drip of morphine every 45 minutes starting as soon as I leave, how does that sound?"

Brittany just shrugged. Santana's dad asked a few more routine questions and wrote them down on her paperwork.

"Okay, I think that just about covers it for now. The nurse will be in here shortly to get you started on some more pain medication." He turned to leave before spinning around as if he forgot something. "Oh yeah, there is a boy out there wanting to see how you are doing, Sam I think. He's been waiting out there since you arrived, would you like for me to send him in."

Santana shot her dad a glare, to which he responded with kind but firm eyes. This was up to Brittany, not her.

"Yeah, I guess." Brittany said slowly.

As soon as her dad left the room to go fetch Sam, Santana started sliding her hand out of Brittany's. When Brittany noticed this her brow furrowed and her bottom lip jutted out in a pout. She chased after Santana's hand and put it back where it belonged. Holding hands was not something they needed to hide just because Sam was coming in. Brittany holds hands with lots of people, and right now Santana's hand was the only thing that she was sure was keeping her from floating away with her leg.

A second later Sam was speed walking into Brittany's room and rushing to her side. The opposite side of Santana.

"Brittany, I'm so glad you're okay! I tried getting in so many times, but they wouldn't let me. I guess it's a good thing Santana's dad works here." He said before placing a soft kiss on Brittany's bruised cheek.

Santana rolled her eyes and squirmed in her chair. She didn't want to see them but she knew she couldn't leave, not with Brittany holding on so desperately to her hand. Besides, she knew she wasn't going to leave Brittany's side…

"Santana can you give us a minute?"

…unless she asked her to.

Santana mumbled a "yeah" as she slipped her hand out of Brittany's and walked out of the room. She was already missing the other girl's hand in her own, but as she looked back once more before leaving the room entirely she saw her hand was already being replaced by Sam's.

Santana kept her head ducked and avoided all eye contact as she made her way back to the main floor and out through a side door. She just needed a second to gather her thoughts and fill her lungs with a little smoke.

She didn't smoke cigarettes often, she never did. She thought it was kinda gross and cigars always looked much cooler, but after she ended things with Brittany she found the world to be a much more stressful place.

She was leaned up against the side of the building, just about to take a final drag, when someone settled up beside her.

"I have to go home and get dinner started, and Brittany's about to fall asleep again. I told everyone else to wait until tomorrow to come and visit. But, I'm sure she'd want you in there, since apparently her parents aren't going to be able to make it tonight."

"Okay."

"Look, I know you don't like that me and Brittany are dating and I'm sorry about that. But, I know how important you are to her and you're still her best friend and that's never going to change. She really misses you. Like, all the time. I hope there's no hard feelings between us."

"We're good." Santana nodded slowly. She wished she could hate him, but how could she blame him. Brittany was perfect and she let her go. It was only a matter of time before someone took advantage of Brittany's singleness. At least it wasn't Finn or Artie.

Sam took what he could get and started walking back to his car.

"Hey Sam." Santana called for him.

He turned around and waited.

"Thanks… for letting me know."

He wasn't sure if she meant for letting her know about the accident, or for what he just said, but he smiled. "Of course, Santana."

Santana tossed her cigarette into a nearby ashtray and took in a deep breath before going back inside the hospital and up to room 406. It didn't matter if Brittany was sleeping. She would be in there fighting off any bad dreams that Brittany might have and waiting for her when she woke up.

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PS: I'm not a doctor and no nothing about the practice. So I apologize for any errors regarding Brittany's injuries and/or cast.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for all the follows & favorites and i love those reviews!

**To the person that prompted this story:** Hi! I'm glad you're liking it so far! And I dabbled with the idea of not including Sam, but I think for it to work with the whole wooing I intend on having Santana do, there needs to be more of a reason for it. Plus I would like to see Britt break up with a dude for Santana after the whole Artie fiasco in S2. [Shh. the Sam thing was totally not a spoiler, who knows if that will actually happen... ;)] anyways feel free to give me more ideas, and let me know if you approve of the direction of the story and all. This is totally your baby... I'm just raising it.

**To everyone else:** Enjoy chapter 2!

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When Santana got to the fourth floor her dad was waiting for her by the elevators.

"So I assume you're staying for the weekend?"

It was Friday and Santana hadn't planned to come back home until next weekend, so she could play catch up on some papers that were due. Her father knew this and she could tell just by the look he was giving her.

"Yeah. I'm gonna stay here with Britt. I brought my laptop with me so I could get some work done while she sleeps though." She said, pointing to the messenger bag slung across her shoulder.

"As long as you don't miss anymore of your classes baby girl."

"I know." Santana responded while looking past here dad, eager to get back to Brittany's room.

Dr. Lopez took the hint and moved to the side to let his daughter pass. He had a nagging feeling in his gut that she wasn't going to be getting a whole lot of school work done while she was worrying about the girl he's come to know as a second daughter.

Santana tapped lightly on the door and when she heard no answer she let herself in. Brittany was asleep, just like Sam told her she would be.

Santana pulled her laptop out of her bag and took her seat, which was still pushed up against Brittany's bed. She opened her school email account and went through the papers that were due on Monday. There were only two, and another one due on Wednesday. Before she began her first paper she slipped her hand back into Brittany's and did her best to type what she could with one hand. Again she noticed Brittany visibly relax with the new contact.

It had been 3 hours and Santana was almost done with her second paper when she started to doze off. Her eyes were burning from looking at her computer screen for so long, but she had to do anything to keep her mind off of the sleeping blonde. She only looked up occasionally to make sure Brittany was still breathing peacefully.

Sometime later Santana felt her head being nudged. She moaned at the movement and lazily lifted her head that had found its place on Brittany's stomach in her sleep. The room was darker and outside she could see the moon shining in through the window casting a dim glow over the room.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and made sure to wipe her mouth from any drool. She laid her head back onto Brittany's stomach. Maybe she should have felt weird about it but all she could focus on was Brittany smiling down at her.

"Hey sleepy head." Brittany sounded about as tired as Santana felt as she made lazy shapes on Santana's hand that she was still holding.

"How are you feeling?" Santana asked as she glanced at her watch noticing it was just past midnight.

"Hungry." The blonde answered automatically and Santana heard Brittany's stomach growl in agreement.

Santana sat up quickly and put her laptop down as she searched the room for anything that Brittany could eat.

"I'll go to the snack machine and get you something. Cheetos and a snickers?"

The blonde just smiled and nodded.

Santana came back a few minutes later with a small bag of Cheetos, a Snickers candy bar, 2 rice crispy treats, a bottle of water, and a coffee.

They ate in silence, Brittany giggling when Santana handed her the rice crispy treat. The first time either of them tried to make them on their own was at Brittany's house in the fifth grade and they had gotten melted marshmallow and rice crispies all over her kitchen. When Brittany's mom got home she yelled at them for 20 minutes before she finally tried one of their treats and decided the mess was worth it. Santana was always good at recipes.

Brittany's phone singing her rendition of "My Cup" interrupted their silence and Brittany struggled to get a hold of her phone that was resting on the edge of the bed.

"Here let me get that." Santana said as she reached across Brittany to retrieve her phone. Brittany quietly gasped when Santana's chest brushed against hers and the scent of the latina's shampoo wafted into her nose.

"Sorry" Santana mumbled, mistaking it for a noise of pain and cursing herself for not thinking about Brittany's injuries before she just basically crawled over her.

"It's okay. I don't hurt so much right now."

Santana sent her a soft smile as she handed her the phone, trying her best not to see who it was.

"It's a text from Sam." Brittany stated as if she could read Santana's thought. "He's just checking up on me and telling me good night."

Santana tried to act as if it didn't bother her but decided to occupy her mouth with another sip of her coffee rather than responding.

Brittany looked through her phone at the other texts that she had missed while she was sleeping.

One from Tina asking if she was okay, another from Finn telling her not to worry about coming into dance rehearsal for Regionals (to which she pouted, not thinking about missing glee as well as cheerios), 2 from her sister who was in Sweden for a student exchange program, and one from her parents telling her that they will try to make it up to the hospital before going to work tomorrow.

She didn't bother responding to any of them except a simple, "I'm Okay, San is here.", to her sister so she wouldn't worry.

"Tell Sam to watch out for those bed bugs." Santana said around the lip of her cup and mostly under her breath.

Brittany glared at her, "That's mean, you know he's allergic. Besides, I'm not texting him back right now. He probably thinks I'm sleeping anyways. I was just telling Chrissy not to worry."

Santana made an 'oh' face and took another sip of her coffee.

"You're not allowed to be jealous, you know? You're the one who told me to date other people."

"I know, I'm sorry. It just sucks. Let's not talk about that right now though. How's your leg feeling? Is it better now that they took it down?"

"Yeah but it itches really bad." Another pout.

"Well…" Santana said as she leaned forward and pulled back Brittany's blanket to get a better look at her leg, "… We can't go in there and scratch it yet because the stitches are still fresh. But, here."

Brittany was already smiling at the fact that Santana said, 'we', instead of 'you' when the Latina bent down and scratched at the top of Brittany's cast.

The cast covered her entire leg from her foot and ended about a third of the way up her thigh. Usually the casts go all the way up and even wrap around the stomach but with the way the bike hit her, the fracture was closer to the knee so they made her a special cast to put more coverage down there and less on her abdomen to lessen the discomfort. Her stomach and chest were pretty badly bruised, but would heal within a matter of weeks. The cast had to be on for at least 6 to 8 weeks.

Brittany felt her cheeks burn as Santana scratched along the edge of her cast, so close to where there was a surge of warmth now building. They hadn't touched this intimately in such a long time and Brittany missed the way Santana's skin felt on hers more than she thought.

"My Abuela taught me this trick, that if you can get just close enough to where you're itching and scratch around it, you're brain gets all confused and makes it go away a little. That's how she kept me from scratching at my mosquito bites in the summer."

"C-cool trick. It, um, it feels better." Brittany stuttered, getting more and more turned on each time Santana would pull her nails across her pale skin, in every direction trying to get as much skin as she could.

It wasn't until Santana was wrapping her hand around Brittany's upper thigh and stroking her nails just under her butt, when Brittany coughed and twitched her leg, causing a lighting bolt of pain to shoot through it. She winced and Santana immediately pulled back and called for a nurse.

"She's hurting! Give her more Morphine! Or anything! Vamos!" Santana yelled and clapped her hands at the stunned nurse as soon as she walked into the room. The nurse was a little taken aback at Santana's insistence but spoke as calmly as ever.

"She's on a scheduled drip Miss Lopez. She's not due for another dose for 20 minutes."

Santana would have smirked in any other situation, obviously her dad had made sure to let all the nurses on this floor know that his daughter was here.

"I don't give a fuck when she's scheduled to get it, give her some now! Afores I take this steaming coffee and toss it all up in your grill, got it?"

"San…" Brittany whined. "Calm down. It's already starting to feel a little better. I just moved it the wrong way. I probably just woke it up and it got cranky."

The nurse took this opportunity to slowly back out of the room.

"I'm sorry Britt." Santana said as she narrowed her eyes on the now empty space in front of her where the nurse should be. She sighed and turned around towards the blonde. "I know you don't like it when I go all Lima Heights, I just don't like it when you're hurt." Santana admitted with sad eyes as she slowly made her way back to Brittany's side and propped her hands on the bed to rest her head.

"I know that. You were just trying to help. Thank you, Santana." Brittany said and placed a small kiss on a tan forehead.

Santana shuttered and tears started forming in her eyes again. Why was Brittany being so nice to her? She didn't get it.

"I'm so sorry Britt-Britt." She choked out.

"I already told you it's okay. You just get like an angry lioness sometimes."

"No not about that, well I mean, that too. But I'm sorry about your accident. I should have been there. I thought that it would be weird if I came, but I wanted too and I should have just gone. I'm so sorry." She apologized as she wiped her eyes on the sleeves of her shirt.

"And you would have what? Jumped onto the tracks and stopped my bike from crashing?" Brittany asked jokingly.

Santana looked up at the smirk on Brittany's mouth before hanging her head again in defeat. Honestly it didn't matter what Brittany had to say. Whether it was her fault or not she already had her mind made up that she was going to make up for it.

"This wasn't your fault. It was mine and that stupid bike's. I knew I should have gotten a new one last year. I was just going too fast and couldn't brake the way I was supposed too. Not because you didn't show up."

In the back of Brittany's mind she knew that she was a little disoriented being there with Sam instead of Santana. She almost felt the need to show off and then when she hit a good trick and looked to the sidelines, expecting to see Santana's congratulatory smile but seeing Sam's goofy impressed one instead… she was a little off her game. Not that she would ever admit that to Santana, of course.

"Are you sure?" Santana asked through gasps for breath, her crying slowing down.

"Positive." Brittan lied. "And you know what? I'm glad you weren't there." She stated matter of factly.

Santana's head jolted up and she searched Brittany's eyes, wondering what she meant. Sure she didn't deserve Brittany's kindness, but she was never mean like that. Brittany immediately spoke up to defend her statement after seeing the hurt in those deep brown eyes.

"I'm glad because I wouldn't want you to see me get that hurt. You would have been so worried and I would have felt even worse. Because as much as you hate to see me hurt, I hate to see you hurt and worry even more…." Brittany smiled until Santana's face softened and her smiling was matching her own. "That… and you might have gone all Hulky Snixxx on anyone that moved me the wrong way and thrown my bike and hurt someone else. You get a little crazy sometimes."

"Yeah…" Santana rolled her eyes at the truth in Brittany's statement. She does get a little crazy sometimes, a lot crazy in fact, especially when it comes to Brittany.

"It's okay. I still love you."

"You do?" Santana asked, not so sure if that was true or not.

"Always." Brittany nodded as if it were common knowledge. "Climb up here and fall asleep with me?"

"Britt… I don't think—" The moment Brittany put on her infamous pout Santana was already struggling to get into the small bed with Brittany with out hurting her. "Okay."

Before she was adjusted she made sure Brittany didn't need anything else.

"No I'm fine, I just need you to lay with me… and kiss me on my cheek." Brittany responded with a cheeky grin, expecting Santana to get all flustered and just tell her good night. But before she could even blink Santana's lips were pressed against her cheek in a warm show of affection. Santana pulled back and scrunched up her eyebrows before dipping Brittany's head down and slowly leaning in towards Brittany's eye, giving her enough time to close it, before she kissed her cut like a whisper. Like maybe her lips could make it go away or heal faster.

When Santana finally did pull away and looked at Brittany she could have sworn her eyes were just a shade brighter than they were when they first opened earlier that evening. Santana was the first to look away and nuzzle into Brittany's shoulder, trying to get comfortable. Her thoughts buzzing about how much she loved this girl who was next to her and how stupid she was for letting her go. In the moment when she kissed the cut above Brittany's eye, she made a silent vow to herself that she would do whatever necessary to get Brittany back to being hers and only hers.

There wasn't much room for them both to sleep comfortably, but for some reason they both got the best sleep either of them had in weeks, all snuggled together. One girl sick with worry and guilt and the other with a bruised and banged up body.

Dr. Lopez went into the room one last time before his shift was over to check on the girls and snapped a photo of them sleeping. They were both smiling in their sleep and Santana was holding on loosely to Brittany's torso, but clinging to her all the same. Dr. Lopez ignored the rules about sharing the bed as he smiled to himself and thought about the first time he saw them in a similar position.

They had fallen asleep on the couch while watching a movie as little girls, and despite Mrs. Lopez's concerns about leaving them there, Santana's dad knew that they'd never been more comfortable.


	3. Chapter 3

Brittany's parents never showed up the next morning or at all the next day. They called to make sure she was stable and to find out how long she would be in the hospital, but that was about it. Their apologies for not showing up were taken with a grain of salt by Brittany and if truth be told she wasn't sure what she would have done if Santana wasn't there.

The doctors and nurses came in periodically through out the day to keep both Brittany and Santana informed on her progress and to let Brittany know that she would be having a follow up X-ray in the morning.

"Santana, my pillow is fine." Brittany said through a giggle as Santana was trying to fluff her pillow…with Brittany's head still resting on it.

"Are you sure? I could get you another one."

"No, that's okay. Can you just sit with me? You're making me nervous with all the pacing."

Santana forced a weak smile and sat down in her chair. She couldn't help it, not only was she angry with Britt's parents for not showing up but Sam was on his way to the hospital. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do when he got there. Was she supposed to leave and go outside like Brittany asked of her the first time or was she supposed to wait in the room while they made googly eyes at each other?

"What are you thinking about?" Brittany asked after a moment of watching Santana battle within herself.

"Nothing." Santana answered, not willing to divulge her insecurities about Brittany's boyfriend when she was the one that encouraged it in the first place by telling her to date other people.

"You know I hate it when you lie to me. You've got that look in your eye like something's wrong."

"I'm just…I don't know what to do when Sam gets here. Do you want me to leave?" Santana finally asked, internally hoping against hope that Brittany would tell her no.

"Do you want to leave when Sam gets here?"

Santana had to think about it for a minute. No, she didn't want to leave Brittany's side, no matter what. She was sure about that. She would probably suffer through an apocalypse, or worse an entire one-woman show of Rachel Berry's boring life, than leave Brittany when she was already so upset about her parents.

"No. I don't."

"Okay, then don't." Brittany said, reaching for Santana's hand. "I only asked you to leave last time so that I could tell Sam to go home and that you would stay with me. I didn't want you to give him your cocky face like you won something when it's not like that."

Santana studied the hand in hers. The one that she'd already mapped out every crease and every freckle years ago. The only thing that was new now were a few scrapes that were already starting to heal.

"Then what is it like?" Santana dared to ask.

"It's like… like I just feel more comfortable with you here with me. It's not his responsibility to take care of me when I get hurt."

"But, it's mine?"

"No. It's no one's...It just doesn't feel like a responsibility when you do it. You're so sure about everything and he looked as lost as I did."

She had a point. What made Brittany and Santana work was that they balanced each other out in almost every respect. Brittany had a way of calming Santana down like no one else and Santana always knew exactly how to explain things to Brittany in a way that she would understand. Sam and Brittany were too much alike, but that was what Santana was so jealous of. What if there was someone out there that understood Brittany on a different and better level than she ever could?

"I will always take care of you Britt, no matter what. You know that right?" Santana asked while staring a hole into Brittany's skull when the blonde pretended to mull it over.

"Yeah, San. I know that." She smiled and gave Santana's hand a quick squeeze before she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Knock, Knock." Sam said with a full smile and a hand behind his back. "The door was open." He clarified when he noticed Santana's glare.

"Hey Sam!" Brittany welcomed him with an equally toothy grin.

He walked in and brought his hand from behind his back revealing a bouquet of white roses.

Santana scoffed. Brittany's favorites were daffodils.

"Thanks! They're beautiful." Brittany gushed.

Sam looked around the room before his eyes fell back to Brittany's.

"Um. Where should I put them?" He asked.

"I'll take them." Santana said as she stood up and reached for the bouquet of Brittany's not favorite flowers.

She put them in the sink that was on the other side of the room. When she turned around she noticed that Sam was at Brittany's side, but hadn't taken her seat. It was annoying how gentlemanly he could be, Santana thought.

"You can sit down if you want." Santana told him as if it didn't matter to her either way.

"No I'm good." Sam answered never taking his eyes off of Brittany's leg. "I brought something else too."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a permanent marker.

"I thought we could sign the cast. You know, everybody from glee club. They're on their way here too."

Santana watched as Sam took the cap off of the marker and bent down to sign first.

"Don't." Brittany said before the marker met her cast. "I don't think I want anything on it yet. It's so clean and pretty. Let's wait til it gets dirty and then we can cover up the dirt with pretty pictures."

Santana and Sam both looked confused with Brittany's objection. Santana for a totally different reason than Sam, because she remembered when Brittany twisted her ankle in dance class and couldn't wait for everyone to sign her cast then. Or when Santana broke her Pinky finger, Brittany brought markers with them to the doctor just so they could draw pictures on Santana's cast right away.

"Oh. I thought it looked boring, but I guess you're right." Sam said dejectedly, like a kicked puppy.

"Can I see the marker?" Brittany asked Sam.

He handed it to her and before he had a chance to pull away she grabbed his hand and drew a smiley face on it. This seemed to cheer him up a little bit and the tension in the room relaxed enough for Santana to walk back over to her seat.

Most of the glee club came in a few minutes later and they all talked about how Brittany was going to have to stay home for a week or two before she could come back to school and how she wanted to be put on skype during all the glee club meetings. Sam and Joe told her they would make sure to put Artie's laptop in the front row so everyone could sing songs to her to make her feel better. This apparently was the song topic of the week, Finn informed them.

After an hour or so, the glee kids slowly started filing out of the room with last wishes of quick healing and sweet goodbyes.

Sam was the last left, aside from Santana, of course. His face showed his struggle of whether or not he should leave. He was eyeing the door and watching as the nurses who walked by were actively avoiding threatening stares from Santana. Brittany started complaining about her leg hurting again and Santana jumped down the first nurse's throat to start her drip a few minutes early…they did. Sam felt a little out done, because he was telling Brittany she would feel fine in a few minutes, when it was time for her medicine.

"Well, I think I should probably go now." Sam said and waited for a response, maybe Brittany asking him to stay a bit longer.

Brittany was watching Santana put his flowers into a vase next to the balloons and a giant singing card that the rest of the glee club brought. She had a dreamy smile on her face as she watched every move that Santana made. Santana must have felt the eyes on her because she turned to look at Brittany before quickly looking down with a blush.

They were having a secret conversation and Sam wasn't in on it.

He cleared his throat and repeated himself. This time Brittany shook out of her daze and motioned for him to come to her. He walked over to her, still a little hurt after seeing the way she was looking at Santana, a way she never looked at him. She crooked her finger, telling him to bend down to her.

He leant in for a kiss, but Brittany was quick to move her face and give a quick smooch on the cheek before pulling him in for a hug. Neither Santana nor Sam missed the fact that Brittany was acting different towards Sam than she was yesterday. Santana kept her smile to herself as she told Sam goodbye and walked back to her seat.

"So…" Santana began. "Sleepy?"

"Not really. I felt like I've been sleeping for weeks." Brittany admitted. She eyed the marker that Sam had left by the sink and Santana followed her gaze.

When Brittany met Santana's eyes again she was giving her a quizzical look.

"What?" Brittany asked, squirming a bit under the scrutiny. She knew what Santana was about to say.

"What was up with you not wanting Sam signing your cast? That's always been your silver lining with broken bones and you know it."

"I don't even like the color silver, San." Brittany said, trying to dodge the question.

Santana cocked her head and raised her eyebrow expectantly, causing Brittany to sigh in defeat.

"You're always the first one to sign my cast…." Brittany waited for Santana's reaction. She wasn't expecting her laugh at her because Santana never laughed at her when she was being serious, but she was expecting something, a look maybe. Instead, Santana just grinned at her. "It's probably silly, but it's always sorta been our thing."

"It's not silly." Santana laughed. "I was actually getting a little upset too when I thought he was going to sign it."

They both shared a laugh before Santana got up and grabbed the Sharpie off of the counter.

"May I?" She asked with a glint in her eye.

"Please! This cast is boring me to death." Brittany dropped her head back for dramatic effect.

Santana bent down and signed her name after a sloppy heart. She pulled back to see her handy work before angling herself to draw something further down… on Brittany's foot.

When she pulled back again to show Brittany what she wrote, Brittany couldn't help but smile so big she thought her face was going to crack in half.

Santana had drawn the words, 'I love you' on her foot using an eyeball, a heart, and the word 'you' (mimicking a drawing that Brittany had done on Santana's cast years ago). Yeah, Santana told her when they were not breaking up that she would always love her the most, but it was a nice reminder. Especially after she didn't say it back last night when Brittany had said it to her… even if it wasn't a declaration and more of a fact.

"You remembered?" Brittany asked, if only to see Santana blush.

"Yeah… and I thought this way you could always see it, since your foot is sorta stuck in that position." She explained with a crinkled nose.

"Thank you San. I love you too."

Santana's heart fluttered. She almost felt guilty for being somewhat thankful about this accident. It was like she needed it, they needed it… just to remember how to BE again. Santana never wanted to be anything with out Brittany again.

Eventually Santana finished her second paper that night in between Brittany sleeping, watching movies on the little TV that was mounted on the opposite side of the wall, and painting Brittany's toes with some nail polish she found in her purse. It was red, and Santana was quick to paint in the hearts that she drew on the cast.

They fell asleep again, snuggled on Brittany's borrowed bed, until a new nurse came in and woke Santana up, telling her to move back to the couch in the room.

In the middle of the night Santana was awoken again by Brittany calling her name in her sleep. It was more of a fragile cry, like her body felt the warmth evaporate soon after Santana left her side. The latina got up right away and shushed her.

"It's okay, baby. I'm right here." She was thankful that Brittany was asleep and didn't catch her slip up of the endearing term.

Santana rubbed Brittany's arm and whispered softly in her ear that everything was okay until she finally settled back into a blissful sleep. She made sure to pull the blanket all the way up the blonde's body before shuffling back to her couch. She looked down at the green plastic sofa, trying to figure out the best way to maneuver it across the room. After struggling with the hefty piece of furniture for 10 minutes she was finally able to push it flush against the bed.

She grabbed for Brittany's hand and fell asleep.

The next morning they both woke up to knocking at the door. Before either of them got the chance to answer it a doctor was coming in with a clipboard in his hands.

"Miss Pierce. It looks like it's about time to do a follow up X-ray to make sure everything is healing properly." He kept walking in the room, not at all deterred by their groans and mangled yawns.

"Hey man, it's like early as fuck. Does she have to do all this now? She's barely even awake." Santana grumbled at the doctor.

Brittany was rubbing at her eyes next to her and nodding in agreement.

"I'm sorry, but it's almost 9 am and this has to get done."

Santana threw the blanket from her body dramatically and put her shoes on. "Okay where to doc?"

"I'll have a couple of the RNs in here soon to help Miss Pierce to the X-ray room. But, you will have to stay here."

Both girls looked at each other with a pout.

After the X-rays came back and showed that everything was healing like it was supposed to, Brittany was told that she would only have to stay in the hospital a few more days for another final X-ray and exam.

Brittany and Santana were in the middle of a pretty serious thumb war when a nurse walked in.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's time for Brittany's sponge bath." An older nurse explained while she held a large bowl of water.

"A what?" The two young girls both asked at the same time.

"A sponge bath. Miss Brittany has been here for almost three days and she'll be here for another few. We can't exactly have her using the shower with her leg the way it is, so we just have to do some basic clean up… So she doesn't get all smelly."

It was obvious the nurse was used to seeing similar reactions and was trying her best to make light of the situation. She knew better than most that no one really feels comfortable with a stranger cleaning their body.

When the nurse noticed that Santana had no intention of leaving she gave her a pointed look and suggested she give them some privacy.

"Oh. Well okay. I guess I'll leave you to it then." Santana said awkwardly, Brittany's smirk not helping.

Before she left the room she turned back and asked, "That's like a new sponge right? You didn't just use it on some old man with a skin disease, did you?"

"We never reuse sponges, Miss Lopez." The nurse assured them both even though Brittany was rolling her eyes at the Latina's concerns.

"Okay, just…making sure." Santana said with a quirk of her eyebrow, trying to get a better look at the bowl even as she was exiting the room.

Santana wasn't in the waiting room for more than a few minutes when the nurse that supposed to be giving Brittany her sponge bath emerged from around the corner. Santana stood up quickly and threw the magazine (that she didn't even get a chance to open) down on the table.

"Was the water too hot? Did you burn her?" Santana blurted out a few of her irrational fears.

"What? No." The nurse said, looking utterly confused. "Um. Miss Pierce said that she would, um…" The nurse looked around the room at the other people waiting and lowed her voice. "…apparently she would rather have you clean her up."

Santana's eyes shot open and if she would have been drinking she was sure it would have been sputtered all over the nurse who was now waiting for her response.

"O-Okay." She stammered instead.

The nurse just handed her the sponge and told her that the water was in the room still and walked away, leaving Santana in a daze.

* * *

So, sponge bath next chapter? ;)


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Santana finally shook off her nerves and mustered up the courage to walk into Brittany's room, the blonde had her hospital gown over her head and Santana's grip on the sponge tightened as she openly gawked at her abs. Her first thought was the last time her tongue had been on them until she stepped closer and saw a few scrapes and a huge bruise on the side of Brittany's stomach.

"San?" Brittany asked, still not able to seeing anything through the fabric stuck over her head.

Santana gulped before answering her, "Yeah. It's me." Her voice was low and hoarse and she cleared it before closing the door.

"Can you help me? I thought I could get it off but it's kinda stuck."

Santana rushed to the bed, kicking herself in the ass for not noticing Brittan's dilemma sooner.

She was able to figure out the problem quickly and wrapped her arms around the blonde to untie the strings that were holding the gown together. She may or may not have taken the opportunity to drag her nose along the newly exposed skin and Brittany may or may not have shuttered at the unexpected contact.

Santana pulled away and had to push down the incredible urge to rub her hands down Brittany's skin. Over or under her sports bra, she didn't care. In a second, it seemed, Santana's skin was on fire.

"Thanks." Brittany murmured.

The blonde wasn't ignorant to the way Santana was looking at her with dark eyes. She's seen that look more times than she could count. And she was quite aware that her torso was naked, save for her sports bra.

"So, I thought I could basically do it myself, I just need some help reaching my leg." Brittany explained, knowing that Santana was probably wondering why she was asked to come in. "That…and you're gentler than the nurse…"

"Right." Santana said, dragging her thoughts out of the gutter and getting into helpful mode.

She handed Brittany the sponge after dipping it into the warm soapy water.

"Do you want me to, like, turn around or something?" Santana asked awkwardly.

"No, silly. You've seen this all before." Brittany gestured to her body with a laugh.

Santana just nodded her head and stayed put. There was no way she would be able to sit down in her chair, so close to Brittany, and not touch her. She knew herself better than that.

She tried her damnedest to keep her eyes focused on anything but Brittany rubbing the sponge down her neck with a pleased look on her face as the water dripped down, soaking the top of Brittany's sports bra.

Santana cleared her throat again and tried distracting herself with conversation instead, because it was clear that she wasn't going to be able to keep herself from watching.

"So, um…that's a pretty bad ass bruise on your side. Does it hurt?"

Of course she knew it didn't tickle, but maybe if Brittany said it hurt it would give her an excuse to chew out another nurse about pain meds and relieve some of this sexual tension she felt slowly building.

"Not really." Brittany shrugged while offering Santana the sponge again so she could dip it back into the water.

Santana handed Brittany back the sponge, careful not to make eye contact. Brittany noticed and smiled. She watched Santana's eyes still roaming over her stomach and decided that was as good a place as any to clean next.

She slowly, and maybe even a little enticingly lowered the sponge to her stomach. She ran it over her abs making sure not to cringe when it stung a bit over her cuts. She lifted her gaze and watched Santana staring, her eyes following the sponge like Lord Tubbington following a laser light... or a turkey sub.

A smirk played on the blonde's lips as she casually swiped the sponge lower, grazing and briefly dipping past the elastic of her boy shorts. Santana's jaw slacked before tightening and her brow furrowed almost as if she were in pain as she stifled a moan.

She wasn't sure how much longer she could take this. Brown eyes met blue and Brittany burst into a fit of giggles. Santana let out a sigh and shot her temptress a dirty look, albeit not a very good one. Mean looks never came easily to Santana when it came to the girl in front of her.

"I'm gonna go…wait… somewhere else." Santana said and started walking to the door.

"No wait! I was just teasing; you're too easy. Besides I still need help with my leg." Brittany feigned weakness and gave her a pout when she made it obvious that she wasn't able to bend very far. "I can't reach."

Before Santana had a chance to argue there was a sponge being waved at her. She snatched it from Brittany and waved it back at her.

"No more teasing." She warned as she dipped the sponge into the water and made her way around to the foot of the bed.

Brittany just smiled and laid back, waiting.

Santana lifted the blanket that was still mostly draped over Brittany's leg and moved it out of her way. She leant down, but just before she touched Brittany's skin with the sponge a thought entered her head. Two could play at this game. Just like Brittany knew her better than anybody, Santana knew Brittany's body better than anybody else.

Before starting her cleanse of the clever blonde's leg she set the sponge into the bowl and took off her shirt, leaving herself in just a flimsy tank top. She was sure to get Brittany's attention by tossing her shirt onto the chair next to her head.

Licking her lips with appreciation Brittany eyed the brunette, wondering what she was up to.

Santana retrieved the sponge again from its bowl and slowly rang it out. All her movements were slow until she finally reached the injured girl's good foot. In a flash of tan skin Santana started scrubbing the bottom of Brittany's foot in all the places she knew would make her squirm. And just as expected that leg went flying as best as it could, under the restraints of the heavy cast lying next to it.

"Santana! No fair, that tickl—" Before the words left her mouth the brunette was already running the sponge from the top of Brittany's foot, over a muscular calf, venturing up her inner thigh, and stopping at the bottom of Brittany's shorts. Her hands holding the sponge just right so that her blunt nails followed in its path.

"Oh" Brittany let out with a soft moan. Santana's ears pricked up and her movements froze.

Santana looked up to see Brittany's head back, her eyes closed, and her bottom lip fitted nicely between her teeth.

She was expecting payback but instead her plan backfired because that look… that look was the kind of look that made her stomach flip and a tightness form between her legs.

Santana made her way back down Brittany's leg, this time slower with more reverence and never taking her eyes off of 'that look'.

Brittany's eyes clenched tighter and her head moved to the side while her chest arched out of habit as she felt a wetness pool between her legs. This was habit, maybe not with the sponge, but still…it all felt too familiar.

Santana had had enough. Slowly she started climbing onto the bed. Careful as to not bump into Brittany's cast as her own legs found their place on either side of the leg she had just 'washed'. In a painfully slow motion, she started her ascension up the blonde's body, discarding the sponge and using both of her hands to guide her way up the blonde's flat stomach.

Each finger that caressed a divot or a break in skin was only the predecessor of Santana's mouth, which was trailing closely behind and brandishing each scratch with a kiss. When she finally reached the massive bruise she gave it extra attention, ghosting over it with her hot breath before leaning in to kiss it a few times as softly as she could.

While lavishing all of the exposed skin that her mouth could reach, Santana moved one hand to hold her steady as her other smooth hand was still traveling north. It stopped just under Brittany's breast, blocked by her sports bra, and began stroking and kneading into the skin there, waiting for Brittany to press her chest up, like a gatekeeper granting access.

Brittany looked down through slitted eyes, watching the girl who just broke her heart and left her in a million pieces, trying to glue everything back with luscious lips and skilled hands. A part of Brittany wanted to push her away and let her know how badly this hurt (out of fear that it might be taken away again), but she was putty right now, melting under Santana. She reached her arms down and took hold of Santana on either side of her face, pulling her up. Their eyes locked and excitement shot up through Santana's body and down through Brittany's. There was nothing Brittany needed more right now than those full pouty lips on hers.

Without warning there was a buzzer sound, as if time had run out, followed shortly by a knock at the door.

Santana threw herself off of Brittany and tumbled to the ground with a thud. She jumped to her feet as the door creaked open and was quick to throw the sheet over Brittany's exposed torso.

"Ladies? Is everything alright?" Dr. Lopez asked as he walked in, looking down at his phone before meeting their surprised eyes.

Both girls were at a loss of words. Santana was holding Brittany's blanket up over her chest, the sponge was tossed on the ground somewhere, and they both looked guilty as hell.

"Uh yeah, Mr. Lopez. Why wouldn't it be?" Brittany finally asked.

Santana's dad looked between the girls and around the room (not missing Santana's shirt thrown haphazardly over a chair) before answering, "Well you hit the 'call nurse' button, so I assumed something was wrong."

Santana's eyes darted to Brittany's side where sure enough there was a remote controller looking thing sitting right next to Brittany's elbow. She must have hit it while they were… sponge bathing.

"What were you two doing exactly?" Dr. Lopez asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sponge bath." Brittany said evenly. "Santana was helping me, because I couldn't reach my foot."

Santana just stood there, still unable to say anything after almost getting caught in such a compromising position with her ex girlfriend.

"Mija?" Her father looked to her as if asking her to back up Brittany's claims of innocence.

"Yeah, daddy. I was just helping Britt-Britt. We were actually just finishing up." She said with a confidence in her voice that surprised everyone in the room, including herself.

"Well okay then." Dr. Lopez said still looking a bit unsure. He threw her a damp rag from the nearby sink telling both of them to make sure Brittany's rinsed off so the soap wouldn't leave her skin sticky, and walked out of the room, leaving the girls to breathe properly again.

"Well he was right about the sticky part." Brittany said as she grabbed the rag from Santana and began wiping off her soapy skin.

Santana stood there for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts and figure out exactly what just happened. If Brittany was feeling at all as confused as she was, she wasn't showing it.

"Um, Britt… what just happened?"

"I think we got a little carried away with the sponge bath." Brittany said, having yet to look at Santana directly since her father stepped out of the room.

"Brittany…" Santana wasn't going to brush this off like her avoidy counter part was trying to do. She stilled Brittany's hand and waited for her to look up at her.

"Santanaaaa." The blonde whined out. "That was a bad idea, huh?" She finally asked looking guilty as ever.

"Hey, that's on both of us. Not just you. But I don't regret it for a second." Santana admitted sternly.

"Y-you don't?"

"Not at all. I love you, Britt. I'll always love you and that…that was fucking hot." She threw in that last part for good measure. She was still feeling a little frustrated that they got interrupted, regardless of the consequences of not thinking things through.

"Yeah… I mean, it was SO hot. But…" Brittany looked absolutely torn. Chewing on her bottom lip and pleading with Santana to read her mind so she could help her figure it out.

"Sam." Santana offered.

"Yes, Sam."

"Well?" Santana let go of Brittany's arm and crossed her own arms over her chest; ready to block herself from the rejection she could see in Britt's eyes.

"I don't know, Santana. Sam is nice and funny and he cares about me. He was there for me when I felt all alone… before and after you broke up with me."

Santana wasn't about to argue with that. Instead she played the quiet game and prepared herself to listen.

"But its you Santana... You're my penguin and I've always known that. But you hurt me so bad, San, and I'm scared. I can't go back only to lose you again."

Santana turned around and started pacing around the room. Her forearms were burning and paling under her grip and finally her eyes blinked and an onslaught of tears came rushing down her face.

"I love you Brittany. I love you with everything I am. I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know why I thought it would be better. Maybe it was better for you? I mean you have Sam. But I can tell you that for me, every single day has been absolute hell. I don't think I can take it anymore. I don't know how I ever thought that I could be with out you."

She ended at Brittany's side, basically begging her to tell her she wasn't alone in this torment she put them through, begging her again to love her back and take another chance on her.

"You think it's been better for me?" Brittany asked unbelieving.

Santana shrugged, not even bothering to wipe away at her tears.

"It hasn't been better. Sam has made it…bearable at best. But nothing could ever be better than you and me."

Brittany reached for Santana and palmed her cheek.

"You're it for me Santana Lopez, no matter how confusing you can be sometimes."

Santana let out another cry…mixed with a laugh.

"So, you kinda love me then?" She asked through a cocky, tear-drowned grin, as she leaned into Brittany's touch.

"I kinda really love you… but I want to do this right, before anything like…that" Blue eyes roamed over the sponge still lying on the ground. "…happens again."

"Okay, yeah. You're absolutely right." Santana sat up from her knees and finally wiped away at her tears. "So, you're penguin?"

Brittany just laughed and nodded her head as she explained to Santana about how penguins find one mate and stay with them for life. And Brittany's 'penguin' just watched her with complete adoration. They could worry about Sam and everything else later.

Santana was actually still unsure as to what exactly doing things right entailed.

* * *

All of your sweet reviews are totally blowing me away people :) Thanks.

I am away on vacation right now, so the next chapter might take a couple days longer to update than usual. Sorry!

**Happy Holidays everyone!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hope everyone had a great December 25th! However you chose to spend it :)**

* * *

Brittany and Santana were just finishing up lunch when Brittany's phone went off. Both girls stiffened when the screen read, 'SAM'.

"Hey, Sam." Brittany answered, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Hey Britt. I just got out of church and thought I'd stop by to see my favorite girl."

That one stung a bit, knowing what she was going to have to do when he got there.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I actually have some exciting news for you when you get here." She said as Santana pinched at her wrist.

Brittany shrugged her arm away and smiled into the phone until Sam was telling her that he'd be there soon. When she finally hung up Santana was giving her a stern look.

"Britt. You told him the news is exciting?"

"Well yeah, I can have exciting news and bad news at the same time. I just left out the bad news part." Brittany said as she popped the last of her sandwich in her mouth.

"What's the exciting part?" Santana asked.

"Sugar told me the other day that she had a huge crush on him. She even tried to pay me a thousand dollars to break up with him. So not only will I be able to kiss your sweet lady lips with out feeling guilty after his visit but I'll also be…" Brittany's sentence drifted off as she typed away at her phone. It chimed back at her and lit up her smile even more. "…a thousand dollars richer." She finished.

Santana leaned over to make sure Brittany actually just did what she thought she did and sure enough there was a text conversation between Sugar and Brittany on the screen.

"_you were right. I cant refuse ur offer any longer. Sam will be all urs by the end of the day_."

Sugars response:

"_There will be an envelope of unmarked bills in your mailbox tomorrow._"

"Oh my god." Santana groaned. "Did you do this all for a thousand dollars?" Her eyes wide and mouth hung open.

"What? No! Of course not. I just thought… you're always so sneaky and I thought we could have a fancy dinner, but I'll tell her I don't want the money if—" She finally saw a smirk crawl up Santana's features and she stopped talking as she tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. "So sneaky." She said when she found her own smile as well.

"Come on Britts you know I'm down with taking money from Miss Priss anyday." Santana tossed her hair behind her shoulder, mocking Sugar. "Just maybe you shouldn't tell Sam all that."

"You don't think he'll be happy to know that he helped make me a thousandaire?"

"I don't know. Would you be happy about that if you were in his shoes?"

"I don't think being in shoes that are way too big for me would make me be happy about anything." Brittany was deflecting and not doing a great job of it. "Buuut. I think I would be happy about someone liking me enough to pay a thousand dollars to be with me?"

"I'd pay a million dollars to be with you, Britt." Santana said with a sweet smile.

"Really?" Brittany's eyebrows quirked up. "Only a million?"

Santana's eyes went wide again before she lunged at the blonde, threatening her with more pinches. Brittany yelped and moved away from Santana's hand. When the nurse came in and shushed them rather loudly herself, Brittany hung her head low, while Santana spat at her that it was about time she check Britt's catheter.

When the nurse left with a grumble after changing out Brittany's fluids, the girls shared a laugh and thought of things that would be good to spend Sugar's money on. (Brittany was embarrassed at first about the whole piss in a bag thing, but Santana made sure to let her know that it didn't bother her one bit after her dad made her do a stint in the children's ward last summer.)

There was a knock at the door and Sam's voice announcing himself before he entered.

Santana looked at Brittany and took in her worry. Now that he was actually here Brittany wasn't sure how to act. Should she just break up with him right away or pretend like nothing is wrong until the moment felt right? He was leaning down to give her a kiss when she blurted out something before he had a chance to go in for the kill.

"Sugar paid me a thousand dollars to break up with you." It was louder than she intended and his face quirked into confusion, but he did stop mid lean and stood back straight.

"Is this a joke?" Sam asked, searching Brittany's face and then looking to Santana.

"Well…I'm gonna go outside." Santana said awkwardly as she stood up and left. She threw one last look over her shoulder and caught Brittany's nervous eyes. It almost made her want to stay and hold Brittany's hands while she broke up with Sam, but Brittany needed to do this on her own without the pressure of Santana's presence. That way Santana would know for sure this is what she still wanted.

The door shut and snapped Brittany's eyes back to Sam who was still waiting for her to explain what she had just told him.

"Sam…"

"Are you breaking up with me?" He asked as if he already knew the answer.

"I'm sorry." She said as an apologetic confirmation.

"You don't have to say you're sorry. Santana's back, I get it." He said. Always the gentleman.

"Okay, I'm not sorry for breaking up with you. But I am sorry for blurting it out the way I did and I'm sorry for hurting your feelings."

Sam walked over to the other side of the bed and took Santana's seat with a huff, playing with his hands as he thought.

"You know, I heard you yesterday…before I came in, when you were telling Santana why you asked her to stay instead of me."

"You weren't meant to hear that."

"I know. You were right though. Santana knows how to take care of you. I know you two love each other and I think I always knew you two would get back together. It's in the way you look at each other." Sam looked up to Brittany and saw that look in her eye again. "That look." He pointed out.

"I love her." Brittany stated.

"I know and she loves you too. But about what you said, about her taking care of you, just remember that you know how to take care of her too. I think she needs you as much as you need her, probably more. Don't let her forget that either, if she ever decides to leave again."

Brittany took a moment to digest that.

"Thank you, Sam." She finally said.

It was nice for someone to notice that it wasn't all Santana correcting Brittany when she was wrong, or helping her with things she didn't understand. Because Santana did need Brittany in ways that most people wouldn't understand.

"So was the Sugar thing the exciting news?" Sam asked with a half smile after neither of them had spoken for a few seconds.

Brittany nodded sheepishly.

"Did she really pay you a thousand dollars to break up with me?"

"Yeah. I mean not yet, I can tell her not too if that will make you feel better, or I can give it to you. That will probably help out with your family and stuff." Brittany still felt horrible about telling him Sugar's bribery as soon as he walked in.

"No, It's okay. You keep it. Maybe you can buy yourself a cool wheelchair or something. Or a robot that gets everything you need since you can't really walk."

Brittany had almost forgotten that she was in a hospital with a broken leg before he brought it up. With everything going on with Santana she didn't have time to think about how miserable she was going to be for the next few weeks.

"Yeah, maybe." She said half-heartedly. Silently wondering if she could find a secret potion for a thousand dollars that would heal her before the next Cheerio competition.

"Well I guess I'm gonna go. Maybe I'll give Sugar a call." Sam said as he sat up. He leaned in and gave Brittany a hug, telling her he was honored to have been called her boyfriend while it lasted.

She smiled and asked him if he could let Santana know she could come back in.

When he walked out he expected to see Santana outside the door, ready to let him have it about dating her girl. He could already picture her smirk at having won Brittany back, but she wasn't there. He looked around the waiting room, and still no Santana.

He finally spotted her in the parking lot, on her phone.

"Yes Coach, I understand. Do what you have to do." He heard Santana say as she hit the end call button.

She didn't look happy and looked even more upset when she turned around to see him.

"Sam." It wasn't a question, it actually sounded more like an accusation.

"I have to go, Brittany wants you back up there."

"Okay?" She said slowly, still unsure if Brittany had gone through with the break up. Sam didn't look nearly as upset as he should be after having the most amazing girl in the world break up with him.

He didn't say anything, instead just walked past her towards his car. Santana stared after him until she realized that was it. She would have to find out from Brittany what happened. She was just about to walk through the doors when a hand stopped her.

She turned around and was face to face with Sam. She stiffened when he gave her a hug and spoke into her shoulder. "It's good to have you back Santana. Take care of her, she loves you so much."

Santana finally relaxed and hugged him back. "I'll always take care of her. I love her too."

He leaned back and gave her a genuine smile. When he was still gripping her shoulders Santana started feeling a little uncomfortable. She wasn't trying to have a heart to heart stare down with Sam right now. "Alright, enough with the lovey dovey shit. Get of off me."

Sam laughed and gave her a final pat on the back before letting her go. He turned around to leave when Santana felt a guilty sensation running up her spine.

"I need her like I need air." She half way yelled, needing Sam to know this had nothing to do with jealousy. When he turned back and she was sure she had his attention she continued, "I'm not just some territorial bitch that came back to break the two of you up."

"Yeah, I know that."

And with a smile that Santana wasn't sure was forced or sincere, Sam disappeared into the parking lot.

Santana smiled to herself the entire way up to the fourth floor and into Brittany's room. Her smile only widened when Brittany looked up and her eyes shimmered in the mid day sun. In fact she thought she would never stop smiling until she looked down at an incoming text and her smile dropped off her face completely.

"What's wrong?" Brittany noticed.

"Nothing. It's fine. How did it go?" Santana asked, putting her cell phone back in her pocket and a smile back on her face.

"I'll tell you when you tell me what that face was for." Brittany argued.

"It's nothing really. We can talk about it later. Promise." Santana spoke as she took sultry strides into the room. "So are you a free woman now?"

Brittany's eyes seemed to shine even more as she nodded her head quickly.

Santana looked behind her to make sure the door was shut before she finally reached Brittany's bed. She looked down at the blonde and took in her position. She was sitting upright, her hair in a loose bun, with a blanket draped over her legs and a tank top on instead of the hospital gown she claimed was too revealing for her religion.

"Can I kiss you now?" Santana asked when their eyes met again.

Brittany smiled, "Yes." She closed her eyes and leaned towards Santana, ready to kiss that perfect mouth of hers. She expected her to meet her halfway but instead she was only met with stale hospital air.

Her eyes were still closed when she felt a dip on the bed, first on one side, then on either side as hands fitted themselves gently over her stomach. Santana managed to straddle Brittany, putting all of her weight on her thighs as to not crush the girl under her. She moved her hands from Brittany's stomach to take her face in both hands as she leaned in while pale nimble fingers ran up tan thighs, making them both shudder.

Just before their lips were reunited Santana looked Brittany in the eye and said, "Some things are worth doing right."

Their lips met in a slow, but perfect haze. Both girls seemed high off of one another. It was a lazy kiss to start as both girls to their time remembering the sensation of their lips fitting together and gliding with one another's, a dance neither one could ever really forget.

With one happy hum from Brittany's mouth into Santana's the kiss became deeper and desperate. Santana's hands slid further into Brittany's hair, pulling her closer and melding their bodies together as much as possible. Brittany's hands found their way to Santana's ass and were squeezing with each swipe of Santana's tongue against her own. Santana moaned at the contact and pushed her self into Brittany's chest, accidentally brushing up against Brittany's bruised side.

"Ow, ow, ow." Brittany groaned into Santana's lips.

Santana quickly realized her mistake and moved back to alleviate the pressure.

"Oh, Britt. I'm so sorry." She cooed, looking Brittany over to make sure she didn't break her even more.

"My injuries are a cock block." Brittany pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Santana leaned in again with a giggle and took a hold of Brittany's bottom lip that was jutted out in disappointment before releasing it with a low pop.

"It's a good thing we didn't get carried away again." Santana assured her. "We're doing this right, remember? And I think we should probably have a first date before we round second base."

"But we've had lots of dates, and besides, I hadn't even begun to round second base." Brittany said suggestively as she went to grab at Santana who was too quick and caught her hands in her own.

"I want to have another first date." She said before kissing Brittany's knuckles one by one. "And a second and a third." She continued with each knuckle she kissed.

"Oh god. We're never gonna have sex then. I won't even be able to leave the house for over a week." Brittany whined.

"I'll figure something out. No worries." Santana said as she lifted herself off of the blonde. Brittany pulled on Santana's shirt and brought her back down for another kiss before nuzzling into her for a hug.

Santana held the other girl in her arms, happy to have been pulled back. Her mind was already racing with how she was going to manage to take Brittany on a date when she couldn't go anywhere. Then an idea hit her, she smiled into Brittany's hug and made a mental note to make some calls before tomorrow when Brittany was hopefully scheduled to be sent home.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day everything checked out so that the doctors were willing to give Brittany an early release, under the conditions that Brittany stay on bed rest for a week, came in the next week for a follow up appointment, and that Dr. Lopez make a house call to make sure Brittany wasn't in any excessive pain.

"I think the nurses are going to throw a party when we leave." Brittany mused as Santana sat on the foot of her bed, massaging her foot.

"Oh yeah? Why's that." Santana asked with a devious grin.

"I'm pretty sure you made at least two of them cry. You're kinda mean." The blonde baited her with a scrunch of her nose and Santana was always willing to play along.

Santana flew her hands to her chest and opened her mouth in shock.

"Me? Mean?" She said as if such thing couldn't possibly be true, while she went back to massaging Brittany's foot, eyeing it skeptically. "Hmm. Guess I shouldn't be massaging your feet then. Wouldn't wanna ruin my rep."

As she spoke she with withdrew her hands and started picking at her nails, with her mouth turned down (like a boss).

"NO!" Brittany pushed her foot into Santana's chest, prodding her to continue. "You're nice, don't stop."

Santana looked down and smirked at herself.

"I think I enjoy this much better, even though it goes against our rules of a date first." She said as she pushed her chest further into Brittany's foot and threw her head back with an over exaggerated moan.

Both girls were laughing when an unexpected voice spoke from the door.

"If I'm interrupting one of your guys' weird fetish foreplays, I can come back another time."

"Quinn!" Brittany squealed from the bed as she lowered her foot, a bit to Santana's disappointment.

"Wanky." Santana chimed it with her favorite catch phrase.

Quinn shot Santana a smirk as she walked over to Brittany to give her a hug, tousling dark hair on her way.

"What are you doing here?" Brittany asked.

"I'm in town to see Beth and Shelby. Santana told me what happened so I thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing."

"Awesome. I've missed you! How's New York? Have you seen Kurt or Rachel yet? I heard they're living together now. They're like married with out the sex…or so they say."

"No, I haven't seen them yet. It's been crazy busy at school."

"Oh." Brittany said as her eyes drifted over to Santana who was lifting herself off of the bed and putting on her shoes. "Santana? Where are you going?" She asked with a pout.

"I'm gonna go run some errands while Quinn is here with you, then drop my car off at your house so I can ride with your mom to take you home later." Santana answered, her heart breaking off piece by piece with the look Brittany was giving her. Like she was going to leave her again.

"Can't you just stay here and take me home? I'm sure my mom would rather be at work anyways."

"You're mom wants to get you and I really have to get a few things done. It'll only be for a little while. I promise."

With that and approval from Britt, Santana leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She looked at Quinn next, who was smiling at them like she knew a secret.

"Make sure you follow all the instructions I gave you."

"You mean the rules that took you 3 text messages to type out? Yeah, got it."

Santana shrugged her shoulders and gave Brittany's foot a quick tickle before she was on her way.

Quinn leaned in immediately after Santana left, "So tell me everything." She said. It was obvious to them both that by 'everything' she meant the Santana/Sam thing.

When Santana got to The Pierce's house, after making a few stops, she went straight for the mailbox to check and see if Sugar was true to her word about the money. Sure enough, the top envelope was one addressed to Brittany in swirly handwriting. It weighed about a thousand dollars. She tucked the letter under her armpit and began sifting through the rest of the mail to kill time before the delivery truck came with the bed she ordered for Brittany. She began to meander back to her car as she picked out a few coupons she thought Brittany would like when she bumped into something that made a familiar 'oomph' sound.

"Watch where you're walking!" The person scolded her.

"Becky? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be mixing Coach Sylvester's powdered breast milk with water and feeding her cabbage patch kid?"

"Coach told me to drop this off for Brittany. And shouldn't you be out of town…sucking." Becky quipped as she pulled out an envelope with Brittany's name scratched on it.

Santana rose an eyebrow at Becky's attempt of an insult and snatched the letter from her. Her former Co-captain stuck out her tongue and walked back to the mini van that her mom was waiting in.

She played with the new letter in her hand. It felt heavy, maybe it was because she was debating on whether or not she should open it or just hand it to Brittany when she got home. Sure, it would be a violation of Brittany's privacy, but it might also save her from unnecessary disappointment. She wasn't naïve enough to think the envelope held a 'Get Well Soon' card. That wasn't exactly Sue's style. She weighed her options and decided to open the letter and blame it on Becky later if she need to.

"_Blondie, _

_I've received word that you damaged your near impeccable physique with that butch sport involving motor bikes. You've missed two practices and as you well know that is absolutely unacceptable. As of now you are off of the Cheerios. I will be by to pick up your uniform on Wednesday. I expect it to be dry cleaned before my arrival. _

_-That's now Mrs. Sylvester to you." _

"Fucking bitch." Santana said out loud after she finished reading the letter. She had half a mind to drive over to WMHS and slap the woman across the face with that damn letter. Instead she slid it into her back pocket and made a mental note to tell Brittany before Wednesday… and key Sue Sylvester's car.

The delivery team came shortly after and she directed them where to put and assemble it. When they left she set everything else up for a surprise she planned for Brittany last night. Everything was arranged just in time for her to hear a honk from the driveway.

Mrs. Pierce was waiting for her and when she slid into the passenger seat she was immediately pulled in for a tight hug.

"Santana! I was so surprised when you called me instead of Sam." Mrs. Pierce said.

"Yeah, well, Sam's a good friend and all, but…" Santana looked up at Mrs. Pierce through think lashes and threw her arms out in front of herself.

"He's not you." Mrs. Pierce finished with a knowing smile.

As they pulled up to the front of the hospital Quinn was wheeling Brittany out to meet them, with a cheery nurse at their side. Santana flew out of the car in record time and adjusted the seat for Brittany to fit in with her leg. As the girls got closer, Santana noticed Quinn also got her chance to sign Brittany's cast. She couldn't read it all but she saw something about the 'unholy trinity' on it.

"I heard the nurses talking about ordering a cake and getting a DJ. I knew they'd throw a party." Brittany whispered to Santana as she helped her out of her wheelchair.

"We'll have to crash it later." Santana winked.

After they finally managed to maneuver Brittany into the vehicle they said their goodbyes to Quinn. Santana even gave her a hug and thanked her for staying with Brittany while she was gone. Brittany on the other hand just rolled down her window and tilted her head up, explained that it suited the new gangster lean she had going on.

The sky was already fading into various shades of pinks and oranges by the time they finally reached Brittany's house. Normally her dad would be home by now, but she didn't see his SUV in the driveway.

"Where's Dad?"

"He's meeting me at the restaurant." Her mother answered simply. But when she turned to her daughter and saw the hurt in her eyes she was quick to defend herself. "I'm sorry baby girl, but we had reservations and couldn't cancel. We had no idea you would go and crash you're dirt bike. Santana is here though and we'll be back later tonight."

Brittany turned her head with a small nod. It wasn't like she was surprised, but that never lessens the sting. She knew her parents loved her and her sister, they just didn't show it the way most parents did. Instead they let them pick out their own meals and clothes when they were kids. They let them stay up late and make pillow forts and told them stories about Ogres as they acted them out and then showered them with kisses before putting them to bed to have nightmares that they assumed they were too old for. Brittany was always told that they were just unconventional.

It took the three women an exceptionally long time to get into the house. Partly because it was much harder without a wheelchair and partly because Brittany didn't quite know how to work her crutches yet. It's weird to walk, or hobble, for the first time with your body not used to half of you being much heavier than the other half.

As soon as they were in the door, Mrs. Pierce was out the door. She said a quick goodbye between worrying about being late and left the two of them in the living room to fend for themselves.

"So, you wanna go to your room." Santana asked, trying her best to sound indifferent.

"That's sooo farrr." Brittany whined as she leaned up against the couch.

"Come on, I'll help you."

Santana managed to get Brittany all the way down the hallway, which seemed like a miracle to Brittany. How on earth was this tiny girl able to move with her body just the right way to create the least amount of pain? 'It must be a soul mate thing', Brittany mused in wonder.

Santana hesitated at the door. Her nerves were going crazy, hoping that Brittany would like everything that she had planned. She wrapped one arm around Brittany's waist and slowly opened the door. Brittany watched as Santana's face changed from focused, to proud and finally to expectant. When she finally looked away from the other girl to look into her room she was awestruck.

Inside there were a couple of lit candles that cast a dim glow on the darkening room. The curtains were drawn, letting in only a stream of the setting sun, which meshed with the candlelight flawlessly. Her eyes immediately fell to the foreign bed. It was a fancy one that had a remote controller to change the position from flat to sitting. On her nightstand was a paper bag that had 'Breadstix' written in bold letters and a plate of spaghetti and meatballs sitting next to it. A light on her wall caught her eye and her eyes shifted from one side of her room to the other where on her bedroom wall Lady and the Tramp was playing from a projector that Santana had managed to place in just the right spot to create a movie theater feel with out it obstructing their view from the bed. Not only was all of it a huge surprise, but it was absolutely the most wonderfully perfect thing anyone had ever done for her.

"Santana…" was the only thing that would escape Brittany's lips. It was so much to take it and finding the words to express all her feelings seemed too impossible.

"I thought we could have our 2nd first date now." Santana said as she dipped her head shyly.

Brittany turned to Santana and placed her hand under her chin, bringing them eye to eye. "It's amazing."

That was the first word she thought of, even though it could only begin to describe what she thought of it. It seemed to do the trick though because Santana was smiling at her as if she won first prize at something more important than Glee and Cheerleading competitions put together.

"Let's get you to your bed."

"My bed." Brittany said and shook her head. "How is this my bed? Did you steal it from a Kardashian because it looks really expensive."

"Yeah, but I made sure not to get caught." Santana said, nudging Brittany to start walking towards it.

"Seriously San. How did you do this?"

"Don't worry about it. It's legit. I ordered it the other day. I figured since you'd have to be on it more it would be better than the two twin beds you had pushed together." She shrugged, not wanting Brittany to question or feel bad about how much it cost.

"Those were our beds though. They were fine." She ended with a pout.

"Well this is better, and who knows what will be ours one day…"

Brittany's heart skipped a beat at that and when Santana finally managed to get her to the bed she pulled her down with her and kissed her hard, letting her know that she was hers again and always was. Santana moved with all the fluidity of the ocean as she moved towards the middle of the bed, bringing Brittany with her, all the while their lips never breaking. Her hands settled on Brittany's stomach, dipping beneath the fabric of her shirt to brush her soft skin. Under her hands she heard the tell tale sign of grumbling and knew that it was time to eat now, and finish this later.

They ate their shared plate of spaghetti while they watched one of Brittany's favorite Disney movies. Santana saved the last meatball for Brittany and when the blonde gave her a look she knew too well, she shook her head and laughed.

"Uh-uh."

"But, It's your turn!"

"I'm not nosing that thing over to you and getting sauce all over the money maker." Santana used her fork to scoot it over to the other side of the plate instead.

Brittany eyed her and leaned back, gesturing to the tan girl's ass. "So, you think your face is your money maker?" She asked teasingly.

Santana lifted an eyebrow and wiggled her butt where she sat.

Brittany licked her lips before a bargaining idea hit her. "If you do it, I'll lick all of the sauce off of your face…slowly."

"So you can leave another hickey mark on my cheek? No way. I had to tell people I got into a bar fight and sent a girl to the hospital just so they would stop asking me if I had a rash."

Brittany was in the process of thinking of something to say back to that when a phone chimed. It was Santana's. Brittany was closer to the phone so she picked it up and handed it to her, she couldn't help that she saw the text from Santana's Coach.

"_Ok, Lopez. I'll give you 'til tomorrow afternoon. If you don't show up you're cut."_

Brittany read the text, confused. Santana didn't mention anything about being in trouble with her squad. Then it clicked…her look from yesterday.

Santana took the phone from Brittany, her eyes glancing over it, before she set it down next to her.

"You got in trouble?" Brittany asked.

"No. I'll get in trouble if I don't show up for practice tomorrow, which I will, so no biggie." Santana brushed it off.

Brittany knew the severity of it, though. If Santana got kicked out of cheerleading her scholarship would get taken away. It was a big deal and Santana was acting like it wasn't.

"You have to go back tomorrow."

"I know. I am."

"Okay. Just making sure."

Neither girl wanted Santana to leave. Who knew when her next visit would be, especially now that she was on her Coach's shit list. With the subject dampening their spirits Santana decided to use the art of distraction.

In one swift motion Santana's head bent down and she was pushing the last meatball over to Brittany with her nose. As she sat back up they were both smiling again and she pointed to her nose and pushed her face towards Britt. "Time to make good on that offer now." She said.

Brittany didn't hesitate before she was licking at Santana's face through a smile. She lapped up all the sauce then began to drag her tongue down and over each of Santana's lips before pushing it inside her mouth. The Latina moaned at the forced entry, eventually finding Brittany's tongue with her own and setting a steady rhythm.

It was amazing to both girls how worked up they could get just from kissing. The movie was quickly forgotten and became background noise as Santana pushed the plate of leftover spaghetti to floor and climbed half way on top of the blonde. She broke the kiss only to drag her lips down. Over her chin, past her throat, and to her neck just below her ear. Brittany stretched her neck to the side, giving Santana access to more skin and gasped when Santana began sucking on her earlobe.

"What are the rules about sex after the first date?" Santana whispered hotly into Brittany's ear between nibbles.

"I-I think, mmm, I'm definitely not against it."

* * *

I'm blue balling you guys again...sorry. Let's hope the girls don't get interrupted this time.


	7. Chapter 7

Santana sank further into Brittany at her words of approval. She would never admit to it but she was almost scared to ask, after everything they've been through lately. After everything SHE put them through. She wasn't sure Brittany would be ready... even with her complaints from the night before.

Brittany ignored her flaming muscles and accepted every ounce of Santana's weight. She'd been craving this for far too long. As Santana's hand slithered its way up Brittany's stomach, under her shirt, she lifted her head up to smile down the only person she knew would hold her heart.

The blonde smiled back at her, matching the intensity of her gaze, as she lifted her chest, awaiting the contact she knew was coming, the contact she was anxious for.

Santana didn't bother to worry about things like barriers, as she pushed her hands past Brittany's bra, drawing it up, and palmed at the supple skin.

Groans were sung in unison and they're smiles dropped before shining brighter than before.

Sex was always the easiest thing for Brittany and Santana. It was dancing and singing and saying 'I love you' over and over with their bodies. Tan skin mingling with pale, learning each other's curves and finding new spots to set the other girl on fire was how they began their spiraling fall into love. Maybe that was why this was the moment they had both been waiting for since their rekindling. To reconnect physically again was like that final step into becoming whole. This was their moment, they both knew it, and maybe that was why they were both simultaneously giddy and nervous as fuck.

They expected it to be natural. It had only been a couple of months since they last made love, it shouldn't be a relearning of bodies and souls, it should just be a natural reconnection. They're reunion wasn't exactly as Brittany pictured in her head though.

Just as the blonde went to make the same move she's made time and time again in bed with Santana a forgotten weight pulled her back down. Flipping them into opposite positions was not happening tonight.

Santana felt the movement and the flinch from under her body and lifted herself; worried that she had hurt Brittany. That worry was etched into her frown lines and written all over her face.

"It's fine. I just can't…" Brittany's words died in her mouth as she tried to move her leg again, to no avail. And the pain that came with her second attempt was too much to hide.

"It's okay. Just lay back and let me take care of you." Santana cooed as she nipped at Brittany's jaw line.

"You've done enough of that already."

Santana gazed back into her eyes with a small smile playing on her mouth.

"Never. It will never be enough."

Brittany sighed but fell back onto the bed and relaxed as much as possible. Sure, Santana was telling her that she wanted to touch her and that she could never get enough (with much more underlined), but Brittany was dieing to feel Santana's warm skin under her own.

As Santana's hands squeezed where they had been resting on Brittany's chest all of her thoughts became a distant memory and her squeal was all Santana needed to continue.

She found her angle on Brittany's body where she could apply the most pressure without Brittany wincing and used both of her hands to rake down the most perfect abs she'd ever want to touch.

Santana went slow. Retracing a body she memorized in her heart ages ago.

She licked her way down Brittany's jaw and bit lightly on her collarbone before she was telling the blonde to lift her arms so she could free her of her shirt and bra. (Santana's mouth only hung loose for a second as she took in the sight of Brittany's bare torso.)

Brittany's breasts were subtly bouncing with her deep and quick breathing, her chest was still raised from taking off her shirt, like she was frozen in time and her bottom lip was drawn into her mouth. It was rare that Santana got to see her like this. Open and vulnerable underneath of her, waiting for her to make the first move. The Latina reveled in it.

As soon as she caught a hint of frustration in the blonde's eyebrows she dipped down and wrapped her lips around an already hardening nipple. She smiled into the flesh as Brittany gasped in pleasure. Her teeth were teasing Brittany's nipple as she brought her hand to cup at Brittany's sex, eliciting a deep moan.

Santana could feel the heat emanating from Brittany's core even through the layers of clothes her bottom half was still covered in. She rocked herself into her hand and pushed deeper against Brittany before trying to map out how she was going to get rid of the blonde's shorts and underwear.

Brittany had never seen the reverence in Santana's eyes like she did that night. The way Santana looked at her wherever her eyes landed like all she wanted to do was worship her. It made her heart skip a beat and her eyes blurry from unshed tears. No matter what Santana did or said, that look was burned into Brittany's memory forever.

The shorts were awkward to take off after Santana finally managed to pull herself away from Brittany's chest (making sure to lean back in for a final swipe of her tongue and watching the skin of Brittany's nipple pebble even tighter). As it turned out Brittany wasn't wearing any underwear and if Santana weren't busy drooling she would be grateful.

Brittany giggled at Santana's expression and noted her darkening eyes, knowing what it meant and it almost made her own mouth water.

Santana took her time to ease Brittany's legs open. Making sure to show affection to Brittany's good leg, massaging it as she shifted it the way she wanted. She was more cautious with the casted leg and barely moved it an inch, but showed special attention to the only exposed skin there. She draped her lips over the skin and coated it with searing kisses and tiny suckles that she knew would drive Brittany wild.

"San…" Brittany pleaded, her body squirming with those lips moving and gliding just next to where she needed them to be.

Santana smirked into her leg, but traveled closer and closer to her center with each drawn out kiss.

When she finally tongued over Brittany's folds the blonde almost bucked off of the bed. She might have too if one side of her wasn't being held down by an unwelcome weight. All the same, Santana brought a hand up to hold Brittany in place and slid the other up to caress at Brittany's chest.

Santana's tongue slid through Brittany's wet folds with ease and every time she moved and Brittany's center would catch a breeze her hot tongue would come and wipe away the cold. Brittany rocked into Santana's mouth when she set a rhythm. Sliding over the length of her, dipping into her entrance slightly, moving back up and back down just before she reached her clit.

And when Brittany's whimpers finally became more desperate Santana ran her tongue back down and pushed it as far as it would go inside of Brittany, just as she was pushing her hips into her mouth.

"Oh god…" Brittany moaned, her hands clenching at the bed sheets.

Santana's tongue curled up as she pushed again and Brittany was already teetering on the edge.

In a daze Brittany moved one of her hands down and reached for Santana. She lifted her head from the pillow as she watched and tickled her fingers just on the underside of the brunette's jaw. It was one of Santana's secret ticklish spots. Santana's jaw hummed into Brittany as her jaw vibrated, sending the waves right into Brittany's core as she wrapped her lips around her sensitive nub.

"Saaaanntaaaanaaa." Brittany flew back onto the bed as her hips lifted up and further in the Latina who was sucking gently on her now, bringing her back down with a practiced ease.

Blue eyes fluttered open and her eyebrows quirked as she looked up.

"I'm still seein stars." She mumbled, breathless.

Santana kissed her way up Brittany's stomach before catching her lips in a deep and steady kiss. She whispered 'I love you' into Brittany's mouth before pulling away and falling to her side. She looked up at Brittany's ceiling and smiled.

"I put those up earlier." She said as she pointed to the thousands of tiny glowing stars that were illuminating Brittany's room.

"They're not as bright as the other ones." Brittany said and turned her body to kiss Santana's cheek, then her ear, then her neck.

"What other ones?" Santana questioned as she shivered and shifted closer to the other girl.

"Mmm. The ones you give me every time we kiss…" She enunciated the word with a final peck on her mouth. "…and other stuff." She finished with a blush.

Santana just gave a satisfied sigh and snuggled into Brittany. She shooed a sneaky hand away when it started walking up her thigh after she realized how exhausted they both were. Especially Brittany with the medication she was on.

"Next time." Santana whispered into Brittany's shoulder and kissed it before tearing off her own shirt and pulling the blankets over them.

"I love you so much Santana."

"I love you Brittany. So so much."

It was the last words that were said before they both drifted off into satiated sleep.

It wasn't until 5 o'clock the next morning when either girl stirred. Santana's phone was going off and telling her it was time to hit the road in order to be at her first class. Santana struggled under the blankets she was trapped under before she finally fell off of the bed and waking Brittany up.

"Santana?" Brittany whined as her hand searched for when the brunette should be.

"Shh. It's okay. Go back to sleep." Santana's head popped up from the other side of the bed before she slinked back in to calm to confused blonde.

"Is it already morning?"

"For me it is. I have to go back to school now."

"I wish you didn't" Brittany murmured; even though she knew Santana had to go back in order to not get kicked out.

"I know me too. But I'll come back as soon as I can." Santana promised with a kiss to her forehead. "Go back to sleep and text me when you wake up."

Brittany opened her eyes all the way and searched Santana's face. She looked as exhausted as she felt and even sadder about leaving.

"Call me when she get there if I don't text you by then, please?"

"Okay. I'll see you soon. I love you."

"I love you, too." Brittany answered back before she finally relaxed into the bed.

Santana stood up and pulled her shirt over her head before walking out of the room. Before she left completely she froze, turned on her heel and padded back over to the bed. She enclosed Brittany with her arms and left a dozen kisses over her bare back and shoulder until she was leaving little kisses all over her face. Brittany giggled at Santana's early morning playfulness and reluctance to leave. She turned over fully and pulled the Latina down for a deep 'goodbye/ I'll see you soon' kiss.

When she was released Santana leaned in for one more brush of her lips and finally forced her self to leave Brittany's room, then her house and finally get into her car. She hated herself for leaving. It felt like she was doing something wrong, betraying Brittany somehow. But she had to go. Brittany got her this scholarship and she wouldn't want her to waste it, as much as she felt like doing just that right now. Anything to crawl back into Brittany's warm bed and into her arms.

Instead, she shook her head and started the engine with a roar and headed back to Louisville. She still has no idea how she plans on getting through the day with out Brittany now that she's hers again. What she does know is that, no matter the distance, no matter her schedule, she will never drift away again. She'll do whatever it takes to make Brittany happy.

After she heard Santana leave, Brittany stayed awake in her bed, staring at the screen of her phone. On it was a text she typed out to Santana.

"_Don't go back. Stay here_."

She frowned to herself, before erasing the text and throwing her head back.

"It wouldn't be fair." She muttered into her hands.

* * *

:) I don't have much to say except I hope that was worth the wait... I was nervous about writing it, which is why it took so long. I wrote out three different sexy scenarios before I went with this one.


	8. Chapter 8

Santana had gotten about half way to Louisville when her phone went off. Her chest clenched and she tried to shoo away the butterflies as she saw Brittany's name pop up. It was weird. She's known Brittany for the better part of her life and yet somehow this new beginning left her feeling like a lovesick schoolgirl. She couldn't understand how she ever let this feeling slip so very far away.

"Hello?" She answered, instead of just saying, 'hey' or 'what's up?' like she normally would. This new feeling left her too nervous to sound so casual.

"Hey." Brittany answered back and Santana's heart fluttered again because she could hear the tired smile in her voice.

"Couldn't go back to sleep?"

"You're side got too cold and my leg aches." Brittany answered with an obvious pout.

"Awe, I'm sorry baby. Your medicine is on your night stand."

"That won't make your side of the bed any warmer."

"I miss you too, Britt." Santana said knowingly.

"Is it weird that we miss each other already?" Brittany asked, but when she heard the pause on the other end she continued, because something that felt so natural shouldn't need an answer or explanation. "I tried cuddling with Lord Tubbington when you left, but he doesn't cuddle as good as you do."

Santana leaned into her phone, as if that would somehow bring her closer to Brittany.

"I'll give you extra cuddles when I come back. We can spend all day in bed if you want."

"All day, huh?"

Santana could almost heart Brittany's eyebrow quirking and there was no missing the coyness in her voice.

"Mm-hmm. But I have to go now, some asshole just cut me off in the middle of an intersection."

"Okay. Be careful, San."

"Always. I'll call you as soon as I get to school. I love you."

"I love you too."

Her phone dropped to her lap and she used both her hands to honk at the guy in front of her, who was now flipping her off. Santana was always down for a little road rage battle.

By the time she got to campus she only had 10 minutes to spare before her class started. Staying true to her word, in lieu of taking the shower she very much needed, she called Brittany and stayed on the phone with her all the way up to her classroom door.

She was only a few minutes late, catching the door as the teacher tried to close it and said goodbye to Brittany. Santana was smiling all the way to her desk, knowing that she wasn't going to waste this brand new start for them. She would call and text and skype with Brittany whenever she wanted.

Her smile dropped the instant she heard the telltale 'psst' next to her from the girl that was the biggest gossip in school. Gabby was right up there with the likes of Perez Hilton and Jacob Ben Israel only without the media outlets.

She reluctantly turned her head when the girl refused to give up on getting her attention.

"So I heard that you're getting bumped off of the cheerleading squad. Word is they're already setting up try outs for your replacement." Gabby whispered to her with a smug expression.

Santana wasn't sure why she seemed to have something against her, but she ignored her all the same.

"I'm no expert, but won't that mess with your cheerleading scholarship? You know, not being a cheerleader?" She continued.

Santana whipped her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at the girl who was now looking as intimidated as she should be.

"Look here, death breath, I know you feel the need to constantly open your trap to air out that atrocious halitosis you've got going on, but speak to me or about me one more time and I'll make sure to rough you up enough so that they have to wire your mouth shut for a year. Got it?"

Gabby leaned back into her seat with wide eyes and quick successions of nods before Santana turned her gaze onto the open book on her desk. Santana internally high fived her self when she noticed Gabby trying to subtly breathe into her hand to smell her breath. (Which Santana couldn't even smell, but could only assume smelled as bad as the Funyuns she saw stuffed into the girl's bag.)

Santana had to admit though, that the information Gabby told her about did fuck with her head a little bit. Coach Newtown promised her that her spot wouldn't be filled as long as she made it back in time for today's practice. Sure Santana seemed nonchalant about her threats over the phone and replied with a simple 'K, thanks' when she texted her, but surely she wouldn't go behind her back and fill her spot with out even giving her a chance to show up, would she?

Santana made it the entire class without getting up to find her Cheerleading coach and confront her, but as soon as her professor excused the class she dashed out and went straight for Mrs. Newtown's office.

She found her there talking to a few of the other girls from the squad who looked at her as they were leaving like she had three heads. Santana knew that couldn't be a good sign.

"Ah, Miss Lopez. Seems you do actually go to this school still after all." Her coach greeted her as she stepped into the small office. It didn't have near as many trophies or certificates lining the walls as Sue's office did. She took a seat and leaned forward.

"I'm really sorry coach, but like I told you, my friend was in an accident and I had to be in Lima."

"You missed Friday night's game and two practices. You're already hanging on by a thread and as nice as it sounds to take care of your friend, this isn't high school where you can just not show up. You have a scholarship riding on your cheerleading career here, which means you have to actually be a part of this squad."

Santana straightened up in her seat and accepted the obvious terms of her scholarship and added weight of college rules versus high school. "I understand." She made sure to not make any promises she couldn't guarantee on keeping. The pangs of missing Brittany and not having talked to her for over an hour were already starting to affect her judgment.

"Can I have your word that you will start to take this scholarship and this squad seriously? Because I would really like to see you succeed in this school, Santana."

It was eerily un-refreshing to have a coach that was so open and caring. It made Santana feel worse for letting her down. Coach Sylvester would have just yelled and threatened her until she proved herself a necessary role to a national championship win.

"I already do take them seriously." Santana argued. Just because she left didn't mean she wasn't serious about the squad, only that Brittany's well being was more important to her.

"Well then can you give me your word that you will start making serious decisions about succeeding at this school and on this squad?" Her Coach rephrased, hoping that would give Santana something to think about.

Santana could see the hope and determination in her eyes and spoke her promise in the best way she could as to not lie to someone who obviously just wanted her to do well.

"You have my word that I will take every decision based upon this scholarship and this squad seriously in correlation to my success at this school."

Coach Newtown tilted her head to the side, not quite understanding what Santana just said to her, but eventually accepting it.

"Well good, now that that's settled I can get the girls to spread a new rumor about these fake try-outs being over."

Santana's mouth fell open. She just got duped by this woman who, not two seconds ago she felt guilty for letting down.

"Good to know, coach. I'll see you at practice later." Santana said with an amused smirk as she left the office and pulled out her phone. Brittany would get a kick out of this.

The phone didn't ring more than once before a bubbly blonde was answering her phone between laughs.

"Santana!"

"Hey Britt-Britt. What's so funny?" Santana smiled into her phone, loving the sound of Brittany gasping for breaths followed by another quick snort of laughter.

"Quinn is here and she's telling me about a bum that lives on the corner of some street who acts out different scenes from movies and Sam is playing the bum. He's so good as those voices."

Santana's smile fell as if it was trying to meet her heart in her stomach. Sam was there. She hadn't been gone a day and Sam was already there making Brittany laugh?

"Santana?" Brittany asked, sounding much more serious, when Santana hadn't said anything in response.

"Sam is there?"

Santana tried not to sound as upset as she felt, but Brittany must have caught on because she was there was shuffling and throat clearing, then the sound of a door being shut. Quinn and Sam must have seen a change in Brittany's demeanor and gave her some privacy.

"He came here with Quinn." Brittany answered, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Oh. Well you guys have fun then. I have to take a shower before my next class." Santana lingered on the phone waiting for Brittany to say something, to defend herself or apologize. When she heard nothing on the other end and tears started forming in her eyes as she felt the world closing in on her she stopped waiting, "Right then. Bye."

"Santana, wait!" Brittany called into the phone.

It was too late though and Santana had already hung up. She choked on a sob as she walked to her dorm. She felt lost and irrational. She felt silly for getting so worked up about Sam being there, but even though she didn't know how to justify her hurt, she knew it was there all the same.

Her phone rang in her hand and she looked down to see Brittany calling her back. She thought about not answering it… because she felt dumb for crying over something so trivial and because she was a little angry that Brittany didn't immediately notice her discomfort and try to soothe it. She thought about not answering it long enough for her phone to stop ringing only to start back up again.

She answered it the second time, just as she was rounding the corner to her dorm room.

"Santana Marie Lopez! Don't you ever hang up on me again! Do you know how that feels? Do you know how scared that made me?" Brittany was yelling at her through fresh tears.

"I'm sorry." Santana said, trying not to let Brittany hear her own sobs.

"Are you crying?"

"No." Santana lied.

There was a sad, airy laugh on the other end which only confused and frustrated Santana further.

"This was supposed to be the easiest day. Tomorrow was supposed to be the hard day."

"Well today sucks so bad, I don't want to imagine tomorrow."

"Does today suck because Sam gets to be here and not you?" Brittany dared to ask.

"It sucks because he's there, period. And because I'm not there, period. And because you acted like it was no big deal that your ex-boyfriend from two days ago is at your house making you laugh while I'm stuck hundreds of miles away from you."

"Baby." Brittany cooed into the phone. "I love you, but you know I can't read your mind when you're more than 20 miles away. So, you have to tell me when something like that upsets you instead of just expecting me to know. You can't just hang up on me because you're upset. That hurts my feelings and it makes me think that there might be another girl around there smiling at you and making you feel better than I am."

Santana walked into her room and threw herself on her bed, groaning into her pillows. Brittany had a point.

"I love you too. But you can't expect me to be okay with him being there."

"Sam will always be my friend, but if you would feel more comfortable with him leaving then I'll tell him to leave. I'll even put the speaker phone on so you can tell him yourself if you want."

"No, you don't have to do all that." Santana rolled her eyes. "I think I just need some time. Maybe you can hold off on hanging out with him until I'm there to make sure there's no funny business going on? Just for right now?"

"Of course." Brittany said sounding so sure.

"I love you, Brittany. I miss you so much. This feels so much harder than every other time I left."

"That's because those other times you got weird and detachy thinking that would make things easier. But easier isn't always better."

"You're such a freaking genius." Santana said, knowing it to be as true as the earth is round. How Brittany didn't graduate still felt like a mystery to her.

"Yeah. This beautiful, sexy, and amazingly sweet girl keeps telling me that. I think she might be the love of my life." Brittany said around a toothy grin.

"Oh I know she is." Santana said, grinning equally as wide. Maybe they would be able to make this long distance thing work after all. "I really do need to take a shower before class, though."

"Because you smell like my hot lady sex." Brittany stated bluntly, causing Santana to choke on her words.

"Britt!"

"What? It's true." She heard Santana huff into the phone before she added lowly, "I can't wait to smell like you again either. Last night wasn't fair at all."

Santana gulped and looked around the room like she might get caught talking about this.

"I-I can't wait either."

"I can't wait to touch you. I want to feel you all over me and taste every inch of your skin until you're so wet that you beg me to reach inside you and make come until your legs go numb." Brittany husked into the phone, making Santana melt with each word.

Her thighs were already clenching shut and her face was flushing with heat.

"God, Brittany that was hot."

"What are you wearing?" Brittany asked.

Another gulp. They hadn't done this since the first week Santana left for Louisville. Santana quickly shot up from her bed and took off her clothes.

"I'm taking my clothes off to get ready for my shower."

"Mmm, baby. You're so tan and beautiful. You're breasts feel so good in my hands. I'm massaging them right now, does it feel good?"

Santana sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and began kneading at the flesh of her chest.

"Yeah, Britt. It feels really good. What next?"

"I'm running my tongue down your body, past your belly button, and biting just under your hip, where I can smell how hot and wet you are for me."

Santana licked at her thumb and ran it down her body, simulating Brittany's tongue.

"Oh, god. You're making me so wet." Santana breathed into the phone.

"Touch yourself for me, Santana. I want to hear you come. I miss you so much."

Santana rolled her head into the phone to hold it in place as she rubbed circles into her clit with her free hand. Her hips were rocking into her hand and just as she was about to plunge her fingers into her entrance Brittany's voice stopped her.

"Don't go inside. That's for me to do when you get here. Just keep rubbing yourself. I love the sounds you make. Its so hot, baby. Pinch your nipple."

Santana did as she was told and her hips jumped further into her hard working hand. She was rubbing furiously at herself now as Brittany voice coached her closer and closer to her orgasm.

"Britt…I'm…uh…I'm….Briiittt."

She came quicker than she wanted too, as she moaned out Brittany's name into the phone.

"Holy shit." Brittany whispered on the other end, wanting so badly to touch herself and let Santana hear how hot that made her, but knowing she couldn't with Quinn and Sam on the other side of her bedroom door.

There was a short pause as Santana caught her breath.

"I don't care if it's just for the night, I'm coming up there tomorrow after school and practice." Santana stated firmly.

Brittany giggled, "Thank god. I'll talk to you later, San. Go take your shower. I love you."

"I love you so much right now. I'll call you tonight."

Santana hung up the phone and hopped across the hall into the shared showers, feeling satiated as ever. She would definitely be getting the real deal tomorrow night.

* * *

I'm sorry this chapter took so long to update! But the spring semester just started, so I've been a little busy. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long! Thanks for your patience. I'm still totally into this story & I hope you guys are too!

:)


	9. Chapter 9

Being away from Brittany was probably the worst thing that has ever happened to Santana Lopez. It was worse than falling in love with her best friend when she was too scared to admit it, worse than being pushed out of the closet by Finn 'douchebag' Hudson, and it was even worse than being shunned by her Abuela for something she couldn't control.

Santana hated not being able to play footsie with Brittany underneath their shared table in Bio, and not being able to run her fingers through Brittany's long blonde ponytail as she sat in the desk behind her. She hated not getting random texts to meet in the bathroom for a quick make-out session, and most of all she hated not seeing those warm blue eyes light up from the back row of the choir room anytime she walked into glee club late.

This time around with her not using every excuse she could come up with in order to not think about it, it hurt even worse. Getting through this day so she could drive more hours than she would actually be able to spend with Brittany was all Santana could think about.

They had been on the phone basically all night and all morning talking about how much they missed each other, about how upset Sam was when Brittany made him leave after their impromptu phone sex, and about exactly what they planned on doing with their few precious moments together that night.

Santana was sitting in her second class of the day when Rebecca, a fellow Cardinal, sat next to her and gave her the worst possible news she could have gotten that day.

"You hear about the mandatory bonding slumber party we have tonight?" Rebecca asked monotonously.

Santana stiffened before turning towards the other girl with narrowed eyes and asked, "Mandatory what?"

"After practice this afternoon there's a lock-in in the gym and we all have to stay the night. Apparently coach thinks we need to do some bonding. It's not even going to be co-ed." Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"Well fuck that. I'm skipping." Santana shrugged and looked back to the front of the class where the teacher was going over a powerpoint.

"Can't. Hence the mandatory part. Unless you're trying to get kicked off the squad... I mean are you? Some of the girls are placing bets."

Santana let out an exaggerated huff and started texting Brittany with the news. Rebecca took the hint and went back to taking notes, and probably putting in a fresh bet that Santana wouldn't make it through the night.

'I'M SO SORRY BUT I WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE IT UP THERE TONIGHT. MY COACH IS A CRAZY KUMBAYA BITCH AND LOCKING US IN THE GYM TONIGHT SO WE CAN GET TO KNOW EACHOTHER.'

A few minutes later Santana's phone buzzed with Brittany's response.

':('

Santana made sure to call Brittany right after class to try and make things better, even though she knew there was nothing that could make not seeing each other any better.

"Brittany, I'm sorry. You know how much I wanna drive up there. I want to see you more than anything." Santana said, a little whine evident in her tone.

"I know that. I just got my hopes up and now I'm an extra sad panda."

"Look, I'll find away to sneak away from the group so we can facetime or something until you fall asleep. Okay?"

"Can't you just sneak out of a window and come see me? Or is your coaching locking those too?"

Santana chuckled into the phone, even though she knew Brittany was being serious.

"I can't baby. You know I would if I could. But I'll see you this weekend. We'll have all weekend together. How is your leg feeling?" Santana asked, trying to change the subject to anything other than Brittany's disappointment in her.

"It hurts... like my heart." Brittany pouted into the phone and Santana could feel her heart hurt just as much.

"Mine too, Britt-Britt. Make sure you take your medicine. I have to go now. I'll call you in a couple hours before practice." Santana waited for Brittany to say goodbye before she hung up the phone and dropped her head into her hands. How were they going to get through the rest of this year if they couldn't even get through a couple of days?

After Santana dragged through her classes for the day she threw herself onto her bed and braced herself for practice and the gymnasium campout. She knew she had to call Brittany, but she didn't know if her heart could taking hearing Brittany so upset again. She didn't even know what they would talk about that wasn't depressing. Between Brittany's leg and this distance it seemed like all of their conversations were just so damn sad all of the time...when they weren't having phone sex, that is.

Santana suddenly shot up and went to her dresser. She pulled out a few things from there and a couple of things she had hidden away in her closet before she texted Brittany to get onto Skype. She had about an hour before she had to be at practice and she wasn't going to waste it sulking about tonight.

She changed into a new outfit and waited in front of her computer until she saw that Brittany was online. When Brittany's face popped onto her screen, Santana gave her a wave and wink before standing up and leaning against her desk.

Brittany's eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw Santana's exposed cleavage hovering in front of her face and she almost choked on the soda she was drinking.

Santana ducked back down so she was looking at the screen when she heard Brittany splutter. She giggled when she saw her girlfriend's eyes were still wide and her mouth was hanging open.

"I need some help picking out some pajamas for tonight." Santana said cooly as she stood back to reveal a red, lacy two piece that barely left anything to the imagination. It was actually something Brittany had gotten her for a Valentine's day present last year. Santana played with the frill on the bottoms as she twirled around, ending with a sultry look, sticking her finger between her teeth.

"Well, you're not wearing that!" Brittany finally said when she found her words.

"Hmm? You don't think so?" Santana asked, feigning innocence.

"Definitely not." Brittany confirmed with a shake of her head and a knowing smirk.

Santana smiled and told Brittany to hold on before she twirled back around and out of the camera's view.

She came back wearing a pink bathrobe, an oversized bright blue shirt with Star Wars characters on it, her Cheerio's skirt, and a pair of fluffy duck slippers that Brittany had been looking for for weeks.

"What about this?" Santana asked.

"First of all, you're a thief and I want my slippers back. Lord Tubbington has been crying about Clarence and Stevie for the past week and I'm over the whining. Second of all, Yes. I think that outfit is perfect." Brittany replied with a giant grin. She hadn't realized how much she needed goofy Santana until that moment.

Santana rolled her eyes and told Brittany that the slippers were staying as she tried on a few more outrageous outfits for Brittany to judge. She tried on a few more pieces of lingerie and another mismatching outfit before showing Brittany the real outfit she planned on wearing that night: sweats and a tank top. They laughed and talked about nothing for almost 45 minutes before Santana had to get ready for practice. She leaned into her laptop and gave the screen/Brittany a kiss.

"I love you, Brittany, and I will do anything to remind you of that no matter how far apart we are. Okay? I don't want you to ever feel like it's going to be like it was last time. And if I didn't have this test and a game coming up I would totally be driving up there before the weekend."

"I know that, San, and I love you too. We'll see each other this weekend." Brittany gave her girlfriend a sad smile and nod.

After one last exchange of smiles and air kisses they said goodbye and Santana went of to practice feeling happy, but numb. Everything seemed less when she wasn't with Brittany or when Brittany's voice wasn't filling her ears. It felt like she was in another world having Brittany so far away and she wasn't sure how much longer she could take it.

Santana was sitting on the bleachers, ready for this slumber party, and checking her email on her phone when she felt someone standing in front of her.

"If you're envisioning lingerie pillow fights and experimental kissing tonight, you're out of luck."

Santana looked up to see Mallory and a couple of the other girls looking down at her with smug looks on their faces and their arms folded across their chests. Santana knew that look all to well, she practically invented that look with Quinn back in middle school.

"Excuse me? Did I just land back in the fifth grade or am I still in college? The fuck kind of sleepover you having?" Santana sneered at the girls as she stood to match their posture. There was no way she was backing down from this.

"Whatever Lopez, we heard about you being an uber-dyke and I know I saw you oogling my goodies in the showers earlier." Mallory, the one seeming to lead the pack, shot back at her.

"Oh please, Uber-dyke? Oogling your goodies? Someone needs a Bring It On intervention STAT. And, trust me there are no 'goodies'..." Santana air quoted the word, "...for me to be looking at. Between those mosquito bites you call a chest and that second chin you're sporting these days I think I'm good." Santana sat back down when she saw the horrified look on Mallory's face and added, "Besides gingers don't really do it for me."

Mallory looked like she was about to pounce before their coach spoke up and called them all to the center of the gymnasium.

"Okay, ladies. Now I'm sure most of you would rather be anywhere but stuck here with all of us, but we've been a squad for over a couple of months now and I don't think half of you even know each other's names. So expect to do a few 'getting to know you' exercises tonight followed by an early lights out. We all need our beauty sleep...especially you, Gretchen."

"What?" A girl from the back row squealed, who Santana could only guess was Gretchen.

The next day, it wasn't until lunch that Santana heard from Brittany. It was a phone call that Santana was eager to take after being worried all morning when she hadn't heard back from her.

"Hey, baby." Santana answered the phone with a smile.

"Coach Sylvester stopped by this morning." Brittany said in lieu of a hello.

Shit. Santana totally forgot about that note and about telling Brittany about her being cut from the Cheerios.

"Y-yeah? What did she want?" Santana asked, even though she knew already.

"She took my uniform and told me I was off the Cheerios. Then she started going on about a letter and how my uniform wasn't clean enough." Brittany said blankly with a lump forming in the back of her throat.

"Brittany, I am so sorry. Fucking Becky dropped off a note and I was going to tell you but I didn't want to upset you and then I completely forgot and I'm such an asshole. I'm so, so sorry." Santana answered in one breath.

"You knew?"

"Yeah and I was going to tell you. I swear. I just..."

Brittany cut Santana off.

"I-I'm not a ch-cheerleader anymore. I c-can't use my leg. I have to pee so b-bad and m-my girlfriend is a million miles away. I-I-I just don't know wh-what to do-o-o." Brittany cried into the phone.

"Oh baby. Shh. It's okay. Everything is going to be okay." Santana could feel her own tears welling up in her eyes as her heart broke into a hundred peices hearing Brittany cry like that. She couldn't remember the last time she heard her THIS sad.

"No. It's not okay. I can't believe y-you didn't even tell me." There was a pause and Santana didn't know what to say; she felt like shit. "I have to go." Brittany finally said.

"Brittany, please. I'm-"

"I just need some time. I'm sad and I don't want to cry on the phone because it hurts my cheeks. I'll talk to you later, San."

"O-okay. I love you." There really was no arguing with Brittany right then, Santana knew that.

There was no 'I love you' back, just a click and then nothing. Silence and it was the loudest thing in the world to Santana. It was an alarm and Santana only knew one way to shut it off.

She had to go back to Lima. Nothing was worth this. She would figure something out, but first she was going to see Brittany and make everything better.

It wasn't until the sun had already set and the birds had already gone to sleep that Santana had finally packed a few things and driven to Lima. She got stuck in some of the rush hour traffic and by the time she arrived at the Pierce residence all the lights were already out.

She used the key Brittany had secretly made for her when they were freshman and quietly opened the front door and made her way to Brittany's bedroom. She creaked the door open and as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw a lump in Brittany's bed.

As she walked closer she saw the steady rise and fall of Brittany's chest and knew she was fast asleep. Santana really wanted to talk to her about everything but decided to let her sleep instead. She slipped into some shorts and as carefully as she could, slipped into Brittany's bed. Just as she was bringing the covers up to her she heard Brittany take in a breath of air. Santana turned to see Brittany opening her eyes and looking at Santana with confusion etched into her face.

"Santana?" Brittany croaked out, her voice thick with sleep.

"Yeah, baby. It's me." Santana reassured her with a soft smile.

"Are you real?"

"Mhm."

Santana didn't even have a chance to blink before Brittany was leaning towards her, pulling onto her shirt simultaneously and crashing their lips together.

* * *

OMG, I updated! lol. Okay I know I've sucked lately and I'm sorry. But I got some time, being on my spring break during the winter and all, and found some time to write this chapter. Again, I have no idea when the next one will be, but hopefully it won't take too long. And sorry if this chapter feels weird. I've been writing a few other things and was trying to find my groove in this story again and probably failed. Eh.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed it.


	10. Chapter 10

Brittany whimpered into Santana's mouth, pulling her as close as she could without hurting her leg. Santana breathed Brittany in, not even minding the taste of salt that still lingered on Brittany's lips from crying herself to sleep.

It was one of those kisses you just know that you're never going to forget, the kind that makes everything, the whole world, just hush and fall away.

After both girls had pushed and prodded and caressed the other with a perfect blend of tongue and mouth and clashing teeth, Santana pulled away slowly, breaking their lips apart only to reconnect them once more for a parting chaste kiss. She leaned away from Brittany who had dried tearstains on her cheeks and did her best to stroke them away with a gentle brush of her thumb.

"I love you." They both said in awe and in unison before giggling quietly.

"What are you doing here?" Brittany finally managed to ask, never breaking eye contact except to blink, which she tried not to do either. Santana must have thought she was going to cry again when her eyes started watering from being so dry, because she kissed each eyelid softly and nuzzled her nose into a rosy cheek. "Aren't you going to get in trouble?" Brittany mumbled into Santana's hair.

Santana took a moment to think of a way to answer Brittany's question without the blonde sending her back to Louisville. She leaned further into the blonde and sighed. Inhaling in her scent, because it always had a calming affect on her. Brittany always smelled like lavender and vanilla at night, when she didn't smell like Santana.

"I won't get in trouble." Santana spoke softly, retracting her head from the nook created by Brittany's neck and shoulder. She looked into Brittany's waiting eyes, bouncing between them making sure they understood and accepted what she was about to tell her. "I won't get in trouble because I won't be in Louisville anymore. I'm not happy there."

"You're not happy there, or I'm not happy with you there?" Brittany asked with a jutted out bottom lip.

"I'M not happy there." Santana emphasized. "Besides feeling like I'm suffocating anytime I'm away from you for too long, I don't like that town. It's not… me." Santana scrunched up her nose and looked away from Brittany, if only to gather her thoughts. "My parents gave me that money for New York and I think that's what I want to do." Santana smiled and added, "Cheerleading just isn't the same without you flashing me your spanks everyday." with a wink.

Brittany giggled with a roll of her eyes. She started wrapping Santana's dark locks around her finger as her eyes glazed over, the thought of her not being a cheerleader anymore either setting in.

"Brittany?" Santana called out in a whisper.

They made eye contact again just as a fresh tear was brimming and rolling down Brittany's cheek. "Why didn't you tell me? About not being a cheerio anymore?"

Santana let out a deep sigh. She knew she would have to explain herself, it was the main reason she came all the way to Lima after all.

"Becky dropped off a letter from Coach Sylvester the day I was setting everything up for you to come home. It just didn't feel like the right time to tell you."

Brittany nodded, silently asking Santana to continue.

"And there was so much going on and I meant to tell you. I was going to tell you the next day. I guess subconsciously I just didn't want to deal with another bad thing. I'm so sorry Brittany." Santana looked away, her own tears now forming in her eyes. "I'm a shitty person."

Brittany brought her hand from Santana's hair to her chin and tilted it towards her. "You're not a shitty person. I just wish I would've heard it from you instead of having Coach Sylvester coming to my house and yelling at me and confusing me and making me a sad, broken panda." Brittany pouted before letting out an airy sigh and bumping her nose against Santana's. "But, you're here now and I don't feel so broken."

"So you're not mad at me anymore?" Santana croaked out.

"I'm still a little mad." Brittany said in all seriousness. A coy smile slowly crept up her face. "But I guess it helped that you drove all the way here and I got to wake up to sweet Santana kisses. But you'll have to do better than that to make it up to me."

A large grin spread across Santana's features as she pressed forward to steal a peck from Brittany.

"Oh yeah? Hmm. I wonder what I could do to prove to this beautiful blonde how sorry I am and how much I love her…"

Both girls erupted in a fit a soft giggles as Santana leaned back down and ran her tongue up Brittany's neck painfully slow, before reaching her earlobe and sucking it into her mouth. Brittany's laughter died in her throat as it was replaced with a moan. Santana smiled into Brittany's flesh as she brought a hand up Brittany's side, slipping it under Brittany's sleep shirt. Her nails grazed over soft skin until she reached her milky chest. Both girls whimpered as Santana palmed Brittany's naked breast, rolling her thumb over a hard nipple.

Brittany pulled Santana's head up from her neck and brought her to her mouth, not hesitating to dive her tongue past Santana's parted lips. Santana's hand squeezed at Brittany's flesh harder out of reflex from Brittany's tongue swiping behind her teeth. Brittany reached around Santana's body and pawed at her ass, trying to pull her in even closer. Santana could feel the goose bumps raise up from her skin. She almost always got them from this side of Brittany. It was the playful, forceful Brittany that subtly was telling her she was about to get fucked.

They both knew there was more to discuss and that tomorrow would mean more than just another day. It would be a reintroduction to the reality of both of their situations, but for now they were happy being engulfed in the ecstasy of just being together. Neither of them could ever imagine a day where they could get enough of each other and Santana never wanted to believe that day could exist. How could she possibly ever feel less than perfect being held tightly against Brittany? She should have known that was always the most important thing to her.

"I've really missed the twins." Brittany spoke through a smile against Santana's lips as she brought her hands up to grab the hem of Santana's shirt.

"They've missed you more." Santana replied as she helped Brittany in removing the offending material.

Once the shirt was discarded and forgotten, Santana sat up a little as she just watched Brittany take her in, in all her naked torso glory.

Brittany's smile never faltered as she gingerly reached up and palmed both of Santana's breasts. Santana tilted her head back and bit down on her bottom lip as Brittany began manipulating the flesh in her hands, knowing exactly what makes the other girl tick. Careful not to be too rough, and greedy enough to make sure she didn't leave any bit of flesh unattended, Brittany reached around Santana's toned back and pulled her chest into her mouth.

Santana let out an uncharacteristic squeak the moment pink lips took in a hard nub, sucking the flesh into her mouth, only puling away to swipe and flick with her tongue.

Brittany switched breasts, replacing her mouth with her more than willing hands as Santana's chest started heaving. Santana hadn't had this much…attention… in a couple months, and she could already start to feel the knot building up in her lower stomach.

"More." Santana mumbled into the air, before craning her neck to leave kisses into Brittany's soft hair.

Brittany pulled back, ignoring the pout on Santana's lips for doing so, and scooted into a better position. She absolutely hated that she couldn't roll them over right now and top the other girl like she would on any other occasion. It was just more thing to add to the long list of things she couldn't do. But in true Brittany fashion, she decided to find another way to make this work, something they haven't done in a while actually.

After a little shuffling Brittany patted on either side of her, motioning Santana to straddle her.

"Wait. Take those off first." Brittany said, as she pointed to Santana's pajama shorts.

Santana smiled and did as she was told.

"And those." Brittany said with a smirk, remembering that particular thong to be one of the ones that Santana modeled for her the day before.

Once Santana was completely stripped of all her clothing Brittany gave her a nod and patted the bed again.

Santana carefully maneuvered herself over the blonde, hovering over her on her knees, just above her stomach. Before she settled down completely she brought her hands down and dragged Brittany's shirt up, and with a little help from the blonde, lifted it up and over her head and threw it on the floor beneath them. Santana made sure to drag her gaze over Brittany's stomach, inspecting it and making sure she was healing properly. Brittany ran her fingers up and down Santana's arm with a hum, letting her know she appreciated the gesture.

The moment Santana finally eased her weight onto Brittany's stomach, Brittany's mouth dropped open with a moan. They both looked down to see Santana's already dripping center rub against Brittany's only slightly bruised abs. Santana wriggled around a little, wiping more of her wetness onto Brittany until neither of them could hold out anymore.

Brittany pulled at Santana and again they found themselves in a needy lip lock. With one hand in her dark locks, Brittany used her other hand to force all of Santana's weight onto her, and the friction was delicious.

Santana could already feel herself getting close, and Brittany hadn't even touched her properly yet. She was gliding against Brittany, desperate for more, and as her moans grew in testimony Brittany fit her hand between their bodies. First she traced her nails up Santana's thigh, loving the way she could feel Santana's muscles quiver and contract under her touch.

Santana broke their kiss and moved her head into Brittany's neck, sucking at her skin and preparing for Brittany to make her move. The one she promised she would do over the phone when she had Santana touching herself.

True to her word, Brittany gracefully danced her fingers up Santana's thighs until they were lost between her slick folds. Brittany moved her fingers nice and slow, up and down Santana, gathering her juices, before bringing her thumb against Santana's clit. Santana bucked into Brittany's stomach, causing Brittany to grit her teeth in pain. Luckily Santana didn't see, and Brittany was careful not to make a sound. She was enjoying this too much to let a little pain get in the way.

Brittany teased at Santana's entrance a little longer than the brunette would have hoped. "Britt ple—"

Santana choked on her words and bit down onto Brittany's shoulder with a hiss as Brittany dove two fingers into Santana and began pumping.

"You feel s-so good." Brittany stuttered, still amazed at how wet Santana was, and how warm she was engulfing all that Brittany had to offer. Santana could only hum back, lost in a state of ecstasy.

Brittany quickly set a steady rhythm. In and out, in and out. Followed by curling her fingers up and leaving them for just a second, before starting all over again.

"Mmm baby, just like that." Santana husked into Brittany's ear, swiping at it with her tongue, causing Brittany to moan into Santana and slip just a little further into her.

Santana rode Brittany's fingers, sticking to their rhythm, and getting closer and closer with every thrust. She could feel her walls start to clench around Brittany's digits just as she finally managed to lift her head and look into Brittany's stunning blue eyes. Santana gasped in awe.

Brittany was looking up at her like she was her absolute everything and that nothing in this world could possibly surpass this moment.

"Kiss me." Brittany breathed. Santana was quick to oblige, bringing her lips down and fitting her lips between Brittany's. It was less desperate than the others, but filled with just as much emotion. It was sensual and wet and honestly, a little sloppy, but perfect all the same.

Santana didn't have much time to revel in it, though, as Brittany brought Santana down for a particular deep thrust, curling her fingers and swiping her thumb over her clit all at the same time. Santana unraveled against Brittany and came hard. Gasping 'I love you' and "God, Brittany' into their kiss, her entire way back down to earth.

Brittany slowed down her pace as Santana started to crumble against her in exhaustion. She started to slide her fingers out of Santana's core but was caught by a hand on her wrist.

"No. Just…just keep them for a little bit longer." Santana whispered, meekly. "I just…"

Brittany nodded and captured Santana's lips with her own once more. She kissed her long and hard then pulled back with a soft smile, calming Santana who looked like she still might be blushing a little. "I get it."

Santana offered her a weak, grateful smile in return, before slumping over and resting herself on top of the blonde.

They lay like that for a little while, Brittany still inside Santana, feeling her walls pulsate as she was still slowing coming down from her high. Finally Santana moved, and rolled off of Brittany. Careful not to hit her leg, and careful not to, for one millisecond, lose contact with some part of Brittany. They both let out a quiet groan at the feeling of Brittany's fingers finally being released from their glorious confines.

Eventually Santana settled against her side and watched Brittany take her fingers into mouth and wipe them clean of her juices.

"Mmm. I love when you do that." Santana rasped with an appreciative hum.

"You taste so good, San. I kinda want more." Brittany said as she stared reaching down, searching blindly under the blankets for Santana's center. Santana swatted her hand away and brought it back up to meet in the middle. With a tired smile she laced their fingers together and brushed a soft kiss against her shoulder.

"Tomorrow. Sleep now. So tired." Santana grumbled, nuzzling herself into their shared pillow before peaking up through her hair with a twinkle in her eye.

Brittany giggled and wiggled her body further into the bed, and further into Santana. "Good night Santana."

Santana scooted into Brittany, swung her arm around her chest and pulled them even closer, effectively molding their bodies together. "Goodnight Britt-Britt." She replied through a yawn.

Sure, tomorrow would mean more of a lot of things. But none of that mattered when they were so blissfully consumed with each other for another night.

* * *

To the guest that posted like 6 reviews on different chapters the other day, thank you! That totally made my day and this chapter probably would have gone up for another week or so with out the burst of motivation I got from you. So yeah, you're awesome.

Annnd thank you to everyone else who has reviewed, seriously you all have been great. Thanks so much for being patient with me.


	11. Chapter 11

**A new chapter. Whattt?**

* * *

"So, how long do you plan on staying, Santana?" Mrs. Pierce asked during breakfast. She would have been surprised by Santana's impromptu visit, but years of Santana sneaking in and out have desensitized her to it.

Brittany was sitting next to Santana eating her waffles and fidgeting from side to side in her chair. Santana couldn't tell if it was from the sugar in the syrup, the excitement of having her back, or if she just couldn't get used to not having full access to all her motor functions. Santana guessed it might be a mixture of all three. Thinking back, Brittany was always on the move... either dancing, or cheering, or just twirling and flowing like an angel as she walked. It must be hard to be reduced to hobbling with help.

Santana looked to Brittany before she spoke; her and Brittany had yet to discuss such details. Hope glimmered in the blonde's eyes as Santana turned back to Mrs. Pierce and said, "A while".

Brittany's mom hummed and went back to jabbing her fork into her eggs. "What do you plan on doing while you're here? We could really use some help with Brittany."

"Mooomm!" Brittany whined.

"What? Your father and I still have full time jobs. We can't always be here to take care of you and I mean if Santana's not going to be in school anymore..." She let her sentence trail off in the end.

"It's not Santana's responsibility to take care of me, school or no school." Brittany answered.

She really hated when her mother did stuff like this. When she was in the fifth grade her mom could never take her to dance class so she somehow planned to have Brittany over at Santana's house every Wednesday and when it came time to drop Brittany off home, Mrs. Pierce would just suggest she be dropped off at the studio instead. It was always conveniently just in time for rehearsals. Brittany knows that Santana's mom had caught on after the second time it happen, she guesses that's why she enrolled Santana in the class after that.

"It's fine Britt. I sorta already planned to be doing that anyways. If you don't mind Mrs. P, I'd like to stay here with Britt most nights until she's feeling better."

"I think that would be a wonderful idea. Don't you, Brittany?" Mrs. Pierce asked her daughter with a Stepford wife smile etched onto her face, pulling her cheeks up and making her eyes sparkle as they squinted.

"Santana are you sure? I mean it's gonna take a long time for me to be better, and I know you want to go to New York."

Santana shifted in her seat so that she was facing Brittany, making sure she knew she was taking this as seriously as the blonde.

"I'm 100 percent sure that I want to be here for you and make sure you're getting better. I wouldn't be able to function somewhere else, knowing you were still hurt." Santana cleared her throat and looked to Mrs. Pierce, who took the hint that she probably shouldn't be intruding on this conversation and went to put their dishes in the sink. When she knew Brittany's mom was out of earshot, Santana turned back to Brittany and continued, "I've got all the time in the world to go to New York, but right now I want nothing more than to be here with you. I, um, I've been thinking actually... and I want to help you out with school too. I-"

"Santana. You know you don't have to do all this. I can't ask you to help me out with school and stay here to help my parents take care of me. That's too much." Brittany interrupted, shaking her head.

"You're not asking me to do anything. I'm telling you what I want to do, Britt. I want to help you get better and I want to help you graduate and I want...I want you to come with me when I go to New York, or anywhere. We can go anywhere, I just want you with me. I don't want to try the long distance thing ever again Brittany. It's not our thing."

Santana was basically pleading with Brittany to let these things be okay to want, and Brittany hasn't felt her heart swell with this much love in a such a long time. Santana wanted to be with her. She wanted to go away with her.

"It's definitely not our thing." Brittany said, her smirk showing that she was being playful, but the depth of her eyes showing that she heard everything Santana had said and that she wanted all of that too.

It was all the yes that Santana needed when she threw her arms around Brittany's neck and squeezed, sneaking in an inconspicuous kiss just under her jaw line.

"I love you so much, Santana" Brittany mumbled into the hug.

"I love you too."

"So, it's settled then. The lovebirds will stay together, awesome now can we talk about the hot date I have planned with Sam later this week?"

Both girls pulled apart and looked up to the voice with confusion.

"Sugar?" Both girls said in unison.

"Duh." Sugar said with a roll of her eyes as she took a sip from her latte.

"How'd you get into my house? Do you have a key to all the houses in the Lima? If so, can we sneak into Marley's room and put life size cut outs of Rachel Berry all over her room."

Santana shot Brittany a questioning glance.

"So she knows how much she needs to shrink." Brittany said with a shrug like it should have been obvious.

"Um. No. Your mama dukes let me in. I stopped by to drop of this homework and a card from the glee club." Sugar reached under her arm for a folder of papers and a couple books along with a card. "The envelope is made of Benjamins. You're welcome."

"Oh. Thanks!" Brittany said and motioned for Sugar to set the stuff onto the table. "You have a date with Sam? Already?" She asked surprised.

"Yup. What can I say I've got a way with dorky guys. I showed off two tickets to a Lord of the Rings marathon at the theater and he couldn't resist." Sugar answered as she pulled out a chair and sat next to the girls. "Hey Santana when did you get back?"

"Last night."

Sugar just nodded. It was really no shock that Santana couldn't stay away. In fact it seemed like almost all the glee graduates had an issue with keeping out of Lima for very long.

"So Brittany. How do you shower with that thing on?" Sugar asked, completely changing the subject. "I bet your leg is gonna smell like a dead body by the time that thing comes off. Gross."

"Um, I actually don't know. I haven't tried taking a shower yet. Santana just lathers me up and runs a sponge all over my body before we get too worked up and have sex all over the place."

Santana almost spit up her orange juice as her eyes widened, "Um. We don't...That didn't happen."

"It did in my head." Brittany said with a wink and a suggestive squeeze to Santana's thigh.

"Alright. Well on that note. I guess I better get to school before I'm late." Sugar got up and left the Piece home without so much as a goodbye wave.

"Brittany!" Santana gasped.

"What? I wasn't in the mood for visitors."

"And you couldn't have just said so?"

"That was much more fun. The look on your face was priceless." Brittany said with a wide grin. "I'm sorry you almost choked though."

Santana just laughed and leaned into Brittany's ear. "If you're feeling dirty later I can always give you another sponge bath. Maybe you'll get a 'happy ending' this time."

Brittany stopped laughing with those words being purred into her ear and grabbed Santana by the front of her shirt when she went to pull away. Santana looked back at Brittany and then down at her lips.

"I'm feeling pretty dirty right now actually." Brittany said as she watched Santana eyeing her lips, poking her tongue out and licking them seductively.

"Oh yeah?" Santana whispered through a smile and leaned in to give Brittany a kiss.

Their lips barely grazed when Brittany's mom walked into the kitchen.

"Did you get your assignments from that Sugar girl?" She asked just in time to see Brittany and Santana pulling apart, both sighing in frustration.

"Yeah, mom."

"Great. I'm heading off to work now. Don't let me stop you from doing whatever it was you two were doing." Mrs. Pierce added as she walked back out of the kitchen and out the door making kissing noises on her way out.

"Ugh. So embarrassing." Santana groaned into her hands.

"It's not like she hasn't caught us doing worse, San."

"Oh God. Don't remind me." Santana's cheeks were starting to darken in embarrassment. She could never forget the time her and Brittany made a pillow fort in the living room and started fooling around when they thought Brittany's parents had gone to bed.

"Remind you of when she caught your hands down my pants with me on top of you? Never."

"Oh look. Let's see what Sugar brought."

Avoiding the look Brittany was still giving her, Santana grabbed at the folder of paperwork and started sifting through it.

Brittany just gave her knowing smile and peck on her cheek before taking some of the papers out of her hands. She had only missed about a week but it looked as though she had been out of classes for a month. There was no way she was going to be able to get all of this done.

About an hour into separating the pile into her different classes and going over a few of the sheets, Brittany was starting to feel overwhelmed.

"This is a lot of stuff." Brittany pointed out.

"Yeah. How about we go take a nap for now and then when we wake up we'll try to tackle some more of this. Sound good?"

"A nap sounds amazing." Brittany said as she lifted her arms for Santana to help her up.

Santana led Brittany to her bed and laid her down before snuggling in next to her. She threw her arm over Brittany's torso and nuzzled into her neck. She loved their moments like these and she wandered if they'd always be able to find this much contentment in their closeness even when things seem bad or complicated.

Brittany was tracing patterns up and down Santana's arms when Santana started dozing off.

"San?"

"Mmm." Santana groaned her reply.

"Promise me if you get bored here, in Lima, that you'll leave." Brittany said with a small concentrated voice.

"What? Like you could ever bore me, Britt. You know all the best jokes." Santana responded, adding a small kiss to the side of Brittany's neck.

"I'm serious, Santana. Just promise me that you won't ever let me hold you back. Okay?"

Santana sat up and used her arm that wasn't being caressed by Brittany's mesmerizing fingers to prop herself up.

"Where is all this coming from? I told you what I wanted. I thought we agreed."

"I know that's what you want now. But... I'm not..." Brittany inhaled a breath trying to find her words. "I'm not the easiest person to help. I don't get things sometimes and I know it can be frustrating. I just don't want to ever be something that frustrates you." Brittany finally admitted, pulling her hand away and picking at the end of her cast.

"Hey." Santana said grabbing for Brittany's hand. She looked down at their mixing skin tones and laced their fingers together before looking back into Brittany's eyes. "Remember back in elementary school when we were learning how to multiply things? You got confused about how 2 plus 2 could be the same as 2 times 2, but 3 plus 3 wasn't the same as 3 times 3."

"Yeah. I didn't think it was fair. And it didn't make sense that if you tilt your head the 'x' looks the same as the '+'."

"And you got sad because the teacher wasn't explaining it to you right. So I told you about how it works and then I made the teacher only use the little dots for multiplication with you after that so the x's wouldn't confuse you." Santana prodded.

"Yeah and he got so mad because he told me that I should just learn to do math without tilting my head and then you yelled at him and threatened to have your mom come up to the school and slap him because you were too short to reach."

They both laughed, and then Brittany looked up with a smile while Santana rubbed her thumb on the back of Brittany's hand.

"And in glee club whenever you would get your lefts and rights confused I never got frustrated, I just reminded you which was which and we carried on. You don't frustrate me Britt, you intrigue me. Everyday you make me a less frustrated person. Okay?"

"You're the best penguin ever." Brittany said with a wrinkled nose, puckering her lips up for a kiss, which Santana happily obliged.

"You too Britt. Now lets gets our sleep on, cuz I needs to catch up on my Zs"

While they were sleeping Santana's phone buzzed from the floor. Groggily from just having fallen asleep Santana reached for her phone and read the text message.

Mami: "_You quit school, didn't even tell us and haven't been home? I want an explanation mija. Now." _

Santana groaned quietly, so that she wouldn't wake Brittany and began typing her message back.

"_I'll stop by later and explain. I'm at Brittany's right now. I'm sorry." _

She didn't even bother to check for a response. She tossed the phone back to the ground an snuggled back into her girl. Her mother would understand better than almost anyone how much Brittany means to her and that she had to do this. Everything would be okay. She was sure of it.

* * *

Okay I'm so sorry this took like a thousand years!

One of my best friends just got married, so between wedding stuff and school it's been hectic. But, now it's just school I gotta worry about. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to update.

(Also, it's getting late and I wanted to get this up ASAP so there are probably tons of grammar mistakes. :/)

Anyone else think that Santana might be a little presumptuous in thinking that her parents aren't going to be livid with her about quitting school? I do...


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